Marijuana may cause testicular cancer

Marijuana may cause testicular cancer
02-08-2009
http://www.javno.com/en/lifestyle/clanak.php?id=232267

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Marijuana use may increase the risk of developing testicular cancer, in particular a more aggressive form of the disease, according to a U.S. study published on Monday.
The study of 369 Seattle-area men ages 18 to 44 with testicular cancer and 979 men in the same age bracket without the disease found that current marijuana users were 70 percent more likely to develop it compared to nonusers.

The risk appeared to be highest among men who had reported smoking marijuana for at least 10 years, used it more than once a week or started using it before age 18, the researchers wrote in the journal Cancer.

Stephen Schwartz of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, one of the researchers, said the study was the first to explore marijuana's possible association with testicular cancer.

"This is the first study to look at this question, and by itself is not definitive. And there's a lot more research that would have to be done in order to be more confident that marijuana use really is important in a man's risk of developing testicular cancer," Schwartz said in a telephone interview.

The study found the increased risk appeared to be in the form called nonseminoma testicular cancer. It accounts for 40 percent of cases and can be more aggressive and more difficult to treat, Schwartz said.

Experts are unsure about the causes of testicular cancer, which often strikes men in their 20s and 30s. The disease is seen more commonly in men who have had an undescended testicle or have a family history of testicular cancer.

The disease usually responds well to treatment and has a five-year survival rate of about 96 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.

About 8,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with testicular cancer per year, and there are about 140,000 U.S. men alive who have survived the disease, the group said.

The researchers said they were not sure what it was about marijuana that may raise the risk. Chronic marijuana use also can have effects on the male reproductive system including decreased sperm quality, they said.

This sounds to me like much of the rest of the hormone/reproductive system related anti-pot propoganda. I found lots of blogs and major news outlets reporting this story, but found nothing about the study on the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center web site. All I found was a study that showed NO link between cannabis and oral cancer. In the extensive study of cannabis, there has been no proof ever shown that cannabis effects the reproductive system or hormone levels, or that cannabis causes cancer, dispite many attempts to establish such a link. I am extremely skeptical, but would be interested to see the results of this study, if anyone can find them.

Important point:
(quote from BBC article on the same topic; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7869709.stm)

Henry Scowcroft, from Cancer Research UK, said: "As the researchers themselves point out, this is the first inkling that there is any association between chronic marijuana use and testicular cancer.
"But the researchers only interviewed a relatively small number of men.
"So before we can reach any firm conclusions about whether this is a cause-and-effect relationship, rather than a statistical blip, the result needs to be replicated in a much larger study."

The fact that the number of subjects was small is relevant here - it could be that there is no relationship whatsoever between marijuana and testicular cancer. This could be due to random chance - only a much larger study would be able to address the question of whether this is a cause-and-effect relationship.

Remember - it has not been shown that marijuana causes testicular cancer.
A link between the two (but not causation) was found in a single study based on a small number of subjects.

Don't fall prey to the mass media confusion and exaggeration that will clinch this as clear proof that marijuana causes cancer in some people's eyes.

Beware of headlines such as that in the Guardian (UK):
Cannabis doubles testicular cancer risk, says US study

There is no way that we can extrapolate from the small number of subjects and say that "you" have double the risk if "you" smoke.

Takehome message: Interesting, but too soon to draw any conclusions.

This sample size is entirely too small. The U.S. population is 300,000,000 with 8,000 testicular cancer patients a year. Taking out the females from the population, making it 150,000,000 means that .005% of the male population is diagnosed each year. A 70% increase would still only be .0085% of the male population being diagnosed each year. I find it EXTREMELY unlikely that there is any type of serious link between the two.

Yeah, and considering that somewhere around two thirds of the American public has used cannabis at some time or another, and the most popular period of useage is in their 20s and 30s... It isn't surprising at all to me that %70 of these patients had a history or cannabis use. I wouldn't be surprised of %70 of the American public between the ages of 20 and 39 use cannabis, especially in Seattle.

Jeeze I hope this information is not true. Id hate to get testicular cancer from smoking pot. ugh

^I think pot smokers have bigger worries, like the damage that frequently inhaling off the top of a small chimney does to your lungs.

I'm not convinced there's any causal link between marijuana and testicular cancer. Like I said, there's bigger health risks to worry about.

I don't think I can even pay attention to "x increase risk of cancer" news reports anymore. I work in asbestos abatement anyways so cancers kinda par for the course.

Though my opinion wasnt changed i find these studies interesting. Not the fact they try to prove something about marijuana but that they prove something about the smoking community. People are willing to saying "lies all lies" what if it isnt i know everyone thinks its not but what if it is right? Marijuana definately isnt harmless what if we all do end up with shrunken hippocamuses, nut cancer, lung cancer, and huge man tits?

szuko000 said:

Though my opinion wasnt changed i find these studies interesting. Not the fact they try to prove something about marijuana but that they prove something about the smoking community. People are willing to saying "lies all lies" what if it isnt i know everyone thinks its not but what if it is right? Marijuana definately isnt harmless what if we all do end up with shrunken hippocamuses, nut cancer, lung cancer, and huge man tits?

Click to expand...

What if the world ends tomorrow?

Roger&Me said:

^I think pot smokers have bigger worries, like the damage that frequently inhaling off the top of a small chimney does to your lungs.

I'm not convinced there's any causal link between marijuana and testicular cancer. Like I said, there's bigger health risks to worry about.

Click to expand...

Vaporize man, vaporize

^^ proves my point because it could. All im saying is it may very well be possible and i dont dismiss anything because it doesnt fit nicely into the world of facts ive constructed. I mean i love weed too and will continue to smoke but thats mean i should think it a god send with no risks.

Media Hysterics About Supposed Cancer Link Nothing New
Paul Armentano
AlterNet
2.11.09


According to Google News, more than 750 media outlets — that’s 7-5-0, folks — have now weighed in on this week’s pot scare story du jour: “Smoking marijuana causes testicular cancer.”

So is there any truth behind the provocative headline? Some, but hardly enough to justify the media’s feeding frenzy.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research in Seattle matched 369 men with of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) with 979 healthy controls. Here’s what they found.

Men who self-reported having “ever used” marijuana had no statistically significant risk of testicular cancer compared to healthy controls who never used pot.

Men who reported currently using marijuana at least once per week, and who had started smoking pot prior to age 18, had an elevated risk compared to controls of contracting a type of testicular cancer known as nonseminoma.

Sounds scary, huh? Well here’s the catch.

According to the federal government, millions of people smoke marijuana regularly. By contrast, diagnoses of nonseminoma, which typically affects males between the ages of 15 and 34, are extremely rare.

How rare?

Nonseminomas account for fewer than one half of one percent of all cancers among American men.

Further undermining the study’s hypothesis is this: Since the 1970s, the percentage of American males smoking pot has climbed dramatically. By contrast, incidences of nonseminoma have risen only nominally during this same time period.

Of course, this is hardly the first time the mainstream media has jumped ugly on cannabis. Around this same time last year, news outlets from Reuters to Fox News declared that marijuana posed a greater cancer risk than cigarettes. Only problem was that the study they were reporting on actually demonstrated the opposite.

So why does the mainstream media continue to get the story wrong when it comes to pot? Good question. You can read my abbreviated answer here. And while you’re on NORML’s site, get the skinny on what the scientific literature really has to say about any potential links between marijuana and cancer here, here, and here.

Link!

everything causes cancer these days though =/

the abstract of the article doesn't state the statistical significance of the findings..

still, if confirmed, these findings aren't really unsettling..

I love how benzene is used in all kinds of industry and yet the media chooses to attack goofy little cannabis as the carcinogenic bad guy, just because they can. Because if they wrote about benzene either A) nobody would liste/care or B) the industries that use benzene would throw a shit fit and get their panties up in a bunch. (Fuck corporations with their schemin' asses)

Its cool to attack pot because corporations don't make a bunch of money off of it, and since journalists are in the business of scaring the crap out of people, they have to write some scary shit. Making pot out to be the bad guy gives them an easy scary story to sell papers with, while simultaneously not pissing off any of their benefactor corporations. Its really as simple as that.

You are so right, Roger.
The chemical pesticides and genetically-modified shit that they put in our food is really all an experiment, and we are the guinea pigs, and most of it probably causes cancer.
When you eat a meal (that's not organic), you eat literally hundreds of types of chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, etc.). These chemicals have not, in some cases, been subject to stringent testing, and in NO cases have the whole chemical cocktail been subject to careful testing.
Marijuana has been used for thousands of years. At most, they have found a weak link between marijuana and testicular cancer by studying a small number of subjects.
The shit they put in our food is new and understudied.
Which seems safer to you?
I would place my bet on marijuana any day.

What's that you said Mr President? Uh yes, that 's right. Taking drugs causes men's balls to swell up, fester and drop off.

Great news Mr. Scientist. Can you get this on prime time TV and in all the news?

Yes of course.

Brilliant. With the help of all you scientists, we can win this damn war on drugs. We'll scare all these druggy males shitless .... er, I mean ball-less. Ha, Ha.

What? The research is not so robust! Well never mind, that's not important. It's the message that counts. And drugs ARE bad. And this proves it. This is just the news we've been waiting for

Who needs testicles - big brother government has got you by the balls anyway.

*sigh* oh jeez, here we go again. Any excuse to take a swipe at marijuana. Happens every time the idea is floated in government to make marijuana laws laxer.

I was shocked to see this as the cover story of an online medical journal I subscribe to.

First of all, yeah, the n is pretty small for this study.

Secondly, statistically linking behaviors and lifestyle choices to cancer is kind of like linking things statistically to getting water splashed on you. The scary fact is, glitches in cell replication happen pretty easily -- all complex machines malfunction pretty easily. Pollution in the system causes more of these replication malfunctions. And pollution is getting harder to dodge.

I think any and all cures for cancer will involve quickly identifying and stamping out already cancerous cells. There will be no preventative cure for cancer that works like a vaccination.