A case-control study to identify agricultural chemicals associated with increased risk of prostate cancer and in vitro screening of their endocrine disruption activities

"The objective of this research proposal is to identify agricultural chemicals associated with an increased risk of developing prostate cancer, and characterize the nature of their biological properties in prostatic carcinogenesis focussing on endocrine disruption properties. ... In this study, the common limitation of lacking exposure details in epidemiologic studies is overcome to a certain extent through the use of the job exposure matrix (JEM) that has been recently developed for the agricultural industry in British Columbia (BC) at the BC Cancer Agency. Exposure to agricultural chemicals is individually estimated by linking the subjects' lifetime occupational histories with the JEM. The endocrine disruption properties of the identified substances are studied in collaboration with the Prostate Centre at the Vancouver General Hospital (VGH)"--page 2.