Q: Are there any clinical trials or cases that directly relate cancer to the carcinogens that are found in pesticides, with emphasis on the colon and liver?

A: Nebraska has traditionally been involved in studies looking at pesticides and their potential for causing disease since we are a farming state. Alegent Health participates in registries that examine the potential causes of various cancers. A registry involves entering, in a confidential manner, information about individuals diagnosed with cancer and then using the information to look for patterns in the development of these cancers. This helps generate ideas about why certain cancers may be caused that allow better studies about the "cause" of cancer.

Alegent Health has over 150 different studies trying to understand what causes cancer, how we can prevent cancer, how can we find it earlier, or the best cancer treatment. Many of these studies ask patients if they would allow the cancer tissue to looked at for genetic abnormalities with the hope of better understanding the cell changes and potential causes of cancer.

An excellent source for finding information about what studies have already been done to see if there is an association between pesticides and different cancers is the National Library of Medicine website, "PubMed". Search on "colon cancer and pesticide" or "liver cancer and pesticides".