The association of cancer risks with pentachlorophenol exposure: Focusing on community population in the areas along certain section of Yangtze River in China.

Abstract Pentachlorophenol (PCP) was used in large quantities, and mainly for killing the intermediate host snails of schistosome in China, thereby resulting in ubiquitous PCP residue in the environment. However, studies considering the carcinogenicity of PCP for humans mainly focused on occupational workers, and the actual carcinogenicity of PCP for general population is uncertain. To investigate the association between cancer risks and PCP exposure in a community population, an ecological study was conducted in three contaminated areas along the Yangtze River. Standardized rate ratio (SRR) was calculated to represent the risk of cancer incidence, by using incidence in the low PCP exposure category as the reference group. A total of 15,962 cancer records were collected, and 76 water samples and 213 urine samples in three areas were examined. Our findings suggested that compared with the low PCP group, the high PCP group had significantly excessive incidences of various cancers related to different organs including lymph (SRR = 19.44, 95% CI = 15.00–25.19), blood (SRR = 17.24, 95% CI = 12.92–23.01), nasopharynx (SRR = 3.97, 95% CI = 3.75–4.21), gallbladder (SRR = 3.46, 95% CI = 3.09–3.87), pancreas (SRR = 3.41, 95% CI = 3.07–3.79), respiratory system (SRR = 3.41, 95% CI = 3.27–3.57) and liver (SRR = 3.31, 95% CI = 3.09–3.56). Taken together, our present study provides evidence that general community population exposed to high level of PCP exhibits a broader spectrum of increased cancer risks as compared to occupational groups.