Environmental Engineering Reference
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examined the relationship between pesticides and breast cancer [19]. However,
although endogenous and exogenous estrogens are known to play a causal role in
the aetiology of breast cancer, to date epidemiological and experimental evidence is
not conclusive for an association between exposure to organochlorine pesticides and
breast cancer incidence (for an overview, see [19]). According to Barlow [19], the
evidence on other endocrine-related tumor sites (testes, prostate, endometrium) is too
sparse to draw any conclusions concerning pesticides.
Rhineland-Palatinate is the federal state with the most extensive winegrowing in
Germany: About 3% of the Rhineland-Palatinate area is under wine cultivation. There-
fore, a potential pesticide exposure of the residential population might be assumed.
Actual deposit measurements in one Rhineland-Palatinate wine district (Moselle re-
gion) point to an ongoing insecticide (parathione) and herbicide (atrazine, simazine)
exposure of the residential population [20]. Repeatedly, a suspected increase in can-
cer incidence has been a subject of concern in the mentioned region. The aim of the
present ecological study is therefore to investigate the cancer risk among residents of
Rhineland-Palatinate winegrowing communities compared to the cancer risk among
residents of communities with a small area under wine cultivation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study Population and Study Area
Each Rhineland-Palatinate winegrowing community (n = 503, out of 2,305 communi-
ties in Rhineland-Palatinate) was categorized according to the proportion of area un-
der wine cultivation of the whole community area (small: >0-5%; medium: >5-20%;
large: >20% area under wine cultivation; see Table 1) based on official data for 1996.
The 1.3% of the total area of communities with a small area under cultivation is area
under wine, respectively, 12.5% of the total area of communities with a medium area
under cultivation, and 31.4% of the total area of communities with a large area un-
der cultivation. Table 1 gives some characteristics of the Rhineland-Palatinate study
region.
Table 1.
Characteristics of the Rhineland-Palatinate vineyard area.
Rhineland-Palatinate*
Area under wine (% of community area)
Total
>0%, ≤5%
>5%, ≤20%
>20%
Communities
2,305
162
171
170
Total area (ha)
1,984,688
222,736
200,709
129,444
Area under wine (ha)
69,043
2,996
25, 101
40,683
% area under wine
3.5%
1.3%
12.5%
31.4%
Inhabitants (per ha)
4,000,567 (2.02)
564,21 0 (2.53)
526,486 (2.62)
301 , 193 (2.33)
Inhabitants per community
(median, min-max)
566 (6-184,752)
1,188 (72-99,750)
1,193 (95-80,535)
984 (84--40,1
1 0)
* All data pertain to Dec 31st. 1996 (Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz 2006)
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