Marijuana use and testicular cancer

Young men who began using marijuana as adolescents or who smoked pot at least once a week were twice as likely as those who never used the drug to develop testicular cancer, according to researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

The association was strongest with nonseminoma, an aggressive, fast-growing subtype of testicular cancer that typically strikes men between ages 20 and 35.

"It's not just that you develop testicular cancer, but you develop a worse type of testicular cancer," said Dr. Glen Justice, director of the cancer center at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, who was not involved with the study.

About 40% of testicular cancers are nonseminomas. The rest are slower-growing seminomas, which tend to occur a decade or two later, when men are in their 30s and 40s. Since the 1950s, both kinds have increased by 3% to 6% a year in the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Various studies have looked for environmental or lifestyle changes that could account for the increase. The study published online today in the journal Cancer was the first to look at marijuana, its authors said.

Researchers interviewed 371 men aged 18 to 44 who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. They interviewed an additional 979 men of the same age group and from the same three Washington counties who did not have cancer.

The researchers found a 70% higher risk of testicular cancer in those who were using pot at the time of diagnosis, with an even higher risk associated with younger age at first use and frequency of use. Hormonal changes during puberty are thought to make that a particularly vulnerable period for environmental influences.

The findings were independent of known risk factors such as undescended testes and a family history of testicular cancer, and adjusted for cigarette smoking and alcohol use.

The senior author of the study, epidemiologist Janet R. Daling, got the idea to look at marijuana after learning that the testes, like the brain, have receptors for tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical component of the marijuana high.

The researchers did not know why the association was seen with nonseminoma but not seminoma, because both subtypes have increased. In the U.S., the rise in seminoma has outpaced that in nonseminoma, but the opposite is true in the Netherlands.

Whether slow-growing or aggressive, testicular cancer is highly curable, Justice said, especially when detected early.

--Mary Engel

Photo credit: Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Overfifty]

Been smoking for over fourty years. Go for med check up every year. Cholesteral high? Yes. Overweight? Right again. Dr. gives the ol' testies a squeeze sez everything's AOK! So I'm off to fire up another day! Hell! I'm over fifty. Guess I'm exempt.

[Fred Williams]

Yep, I bet that these young men were chronic coffee drinkers too! Every week there is another connection from eating or drinking something to your health. Let's face it, living is dangerous to our health. Red meat and sodium nitrate is giving us colon cancer, tofu is causing dementia in middle-aged Caucasian men, lab rats have bladder cancer after being given artificial sweeteners. I think that I'm going to In and Out and eat a big cheeseburger, and twist one up afterwards.

[Linda]

I also heard if you use Marijuana -- it grows hair on your palms and you'll go blind...

[geoff of jersey]

Considering that the air where I live in NJ and NYC is so polluted you can get a
number of different forms of cancer just from
breathing
it, did these brilliant scientist consider the fact that they are running a test in a city with one of the worst pollution problems worldwide, where 80% of the population smokes? I dunno... Maybe I'm just crazy and
that was a truly unbiased experiment...

[Rando]

The study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is apparently digging hard for anti-cannabis propaganda. The sample size is so small that the results, were they valid, don't really indicate anything. But most importantly there is no way to "adjust" the findings for other factors like smoking and alcohol that goes beyond virtual speculation. You can't determine a Gaussian distribution for these variables because their correlation/independence is just not known.

[Phil]

I am sooo tired of all this anti-weed propaganda. That's all it is. The mainstream media never tries to cover the real facts because it would offend the purist idiots that run everything in this country for profit, and it's always the same groups and people who are clueless of the facts and that know nothing about what a wonderful drug marijuana can be if used properly. Yet the same people are ALL using the really harmful drugs that the pharma-suicidical industry turns out by the trillions and trillions which are PROVEN to eat away at your body... for HUGE profits. And alcohol is a HUGE adult recreational industry almost universally accepted around the world. The fact is that the only things that you can put into your body that aren't harmful in some way or another are water, organic fruits, grains, and vegetables. And weed does NOT rank high on that "danger" list or they would not have to reach for straws like this, use propaganda, or "hide" the facts. But there is NO push to reveal that. Just follow the money. The real reason that weed gets such a negative rap is that it grows wild and free and the pharms can't get a patent on it. And you also still have too many purists in this country that tried disastrously to make alcohol illegal years ago and feel the same way about weed. How much has the "war on weed" cost this country? Marijuana is probably the safest pain reliever there is. For pain relief, it works similar to nitrous oxide only without the danger and is easier to regulate levels. You absolutely CANNOT overdose on weed, it is impossible. As a recreational drug it is sooooo much safer than all of them, including alcohol and nicotine that it doesn't even compare. Does it have its side effects?... absolutely, It will affect your short term memory if used to EXCESS, and make you dumb, but NOT permanently if use is discontinued or reduced. People need to learn that you pay a price for everything you do and NOTHING is safe and without consequences if done to excess. Personally I think television and the mainstream media make many people dumber than marijuana but you won't see the "powers" criticizing "that". Also marijuana is already legal in a good many countries and they have very few problems with it, definitely less problems than with say, alcohol, prescription pain killers, Vioxx, or steroids. By the way, how good do you think taking Viagra is for you? The many millions of people who have used marijuana or have first-hand knowledge of it, know that the real problems are the misconceptions, the stigma from ignorant people, the lack of "clean" sources, and the problems with getting busted and prosecuted like you are lower than a bank robber or rapist. Phelps is a moron!! He is the champion, not Kellogg's, he should have told Kellogg's to stick their sponsorship and told the media that weed is a more valuable commodity than Kellogg's ... cereal. I will never buy Kellogg's again. ... The question is: Will President Obama ... federally decriminalize marijuana and leave it to the states and "the People" to decide and control it safely? We are keeping far too many people down and in jail for marijuana.

[Bruce from eslewhere]

Most of you are being rather shortsighted. There are associated risks with doing/consuming many things in this world. You can make all the assumptions you want about the timing/why this information was published. In the end, it's information that may permit some people to make an educated decision about whether they want to use/smoke the stuff or not.

Information/knowledge is power. There is nothing in this study that is telling you to abstain. All they are pointing out is that, statistically, they have noted an increased risk of testicular cancer associated with the use.

I find it humorous that so many people see conspiracy everywhere they look.

I also find it interesting that the overwhelming number of people who cared enough to bother typing anything here were annoyed by or skeptical of the study. Nobody says you have to believe, but you're a fool if you don't at least consider the repercussions.

In the end, you have to believe what you choose to believe and live according to those beliefs.

Phelps and many of you have a different opinion about marijuana use. That's OK. But that opinion isn't any more valid than the opinion of those that feel it's detrimental to use. In the end, believers from both sides will continue to try and shove "their facts" down the other side's throat.

I choose to not smoke anything. My body is more important to me as any benefit I might gain toking up and I don't need the escape that marijuana or booze seems to provide so many. Maybe I'm lucky, maybe I'm just fooling myself. I just know I see somebody very close to me using far too much and wasting their potential. It's not my choice to make though. They are an adult now and I recognize their right to decide.

[Rory-Owen Delaney]

Testicular cancer has been on the rise in young men in general. This is more likely due to the hundreds of industrial chemicals like BPA, PFOA & DECA that are present in the blood stream of 90 plus percent of Americans rather than as a result of extended marijuana use.

[Lisa Lewis]

So that being said... most of the male population in Jamaica must have testicular cancer? lol...

[jake420]

The findings were independent of known risk factors such as undescended testes and a family history of testicular cancer.... if your family has had a history of something then yeah you're more likely to get it and also if your stuff has never dropped.. I don't think this has anything to do with marijuana. and yeah lots of people smoke weed, so if you wanna play that game then 80% of people who get cancer drink milk.

[Lee]

What ever happened to big breast on men? Why always pick on men when making this science up?

[John]

The LA times is a joke, this 'story' just further proves this fact. I will never read anything by this publication again, as it's clear they have compromised their journalistic integrity for the sake of the US governments agenda. Sickening..

[Laurence]

Let's do some more research on the effect of BPAs and my testicles....They don't wanna talk about that....Pull all that toxic plastic off of store shelves and remove all plastics from our homes and quit demonizing Cannibus. When will the people stand up and say "enough"? I can barely stand it anymore...

[anonamoooose]

So what?
I mean, how many things do we know that cause cancer? None of those are illegal, why should marijuana be treated differently? The study seems to say it causes a slight increase in a rare, easily treatable form of cancer; let's compare that with not-so-banned high fructose corn syrup, at the very least.
There is some attitude among people that if marijuana use were found to have any danger at all, it needs to remain illegal, which is one of the most ridiculous things I can think of. Almost everything worth doing is dangerous! ...Let's say it triples the rate of testicular cancer (which the study doesn't come close to showing). I'd still choose to smoke it. Why should you be able to tell me otherwise?
Get over yourselves.

[Angel Gonzalez]

Duh, forgot why I'm writing on this blog...............................Oh yeah, weed and testicular cancer. I'm 56 and smoked for 37 yrs, and I don't have any kind of cancer. People will say anything to further their agenda.

[M B]

this is from the LA Times? WOW! Give me a frickin break!!!!!!!!!!!! next month it will CURE testicular cancer!

[Samuke]

Uhm, Joseph said something about federal law with regards to marijuana, but that only applies to trafficking certain amounts, and, as with most illegal substances, you can get licensing for testing for medical research. If it were federally illegal to posses you'd go to federal prison for possession, not county lockup.

[Debi]

I never understand why people that smoke pot always think there is nothing wrong with it. Everyone I know that smokes pot has no ambition and acts like a complete idiot. Obviously if it gets you high it must eventually do something to your mind or body. People that smoke always defend it.

[Aaron]

what a thorough test! So if they had testicular cancer and had smoked marijuana, then it was because of the marijuana! I tied my shoes last night, is that the reason the sun came up this morning???