Pre-Myeloma- Pesticides, Virus’, Environment?

3 years ago
/ Pre-Myeloma
/ By David Emerson
/ 9 COMMENTS

“Among study participants older than 50 years, 38 were found to have MGUS, (pre-myeloma) yielding a prevalence of 6.8%

What caused my pre-myeloma (MGUS, SMM, MM) is the first question many of us ask ourselves upon diagnosis. It might be cold comfort but pesticide use increases the risk of Multiple Myeloma (MM) too.

While I didn’t work around pesticides before my diagnosis of multiple myeloma, I did work in a commercial printing plant and was exposed to chemicals.

While I can’t say for certain that your MGUS cause was pesticide use, it’s important for you to know that pesticide exposure can increase the risk of an MGUS diagnosis. Further, this diagnosis is a blood disorder or pre-myeloma, not cancer.

Hi. My name is David Emerson. I am both a long-term Multiple Myeloma survivor and MM cancer coach. MMers wonder about the origins of their myeloma. So I thought MGUS patients might want to know as well.

MGUS at a glance-

Diagnostic Testing- Blood, Bone, Imaging
Symptoms- Bone Pain, Nerve Pain, Kidney Damage, Skin Rash, Blood Clot
Diagnosis, Prognosis- Risk of Progression to Multiple Myeloma, “Comparatively Lower Life-Expectancy”
Risk Factors- Lifestyle, Pesticides, Human PapillomaVirus, Relatives with MM/MGUS

While it may not help you to learn that working on the farm all those years increased your risk for pre-myeloma it may help you to learn that there are evidence-based, non-toxic therapies that can decrease the risk of your pre-myeloma becoming a full-blown MM diagnosis. You can do more than just “watch and wait.”

To learn more about possible causes or pre-myeloma and full myeloma, please read the posts linked below.

Consider MGUS Therapies such as:

non-toxic, cytotoxic/apoptotic supplements,
foods that starve multiple myeloma
evidence-based mind-body therapies,
detoxification therapies,
Non-conventional bone health therapies

To Learn About Pre-Myeloma (SPB, MGUS, MGCS, SMM), diagnostics, symptoms and therapies- click now

David Emerson

MM Survivor
MM Cancer Coach
Director PeopleBeatingCancer

Pesticide exposure and risk of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in the Agricultural Health Study.

“Pesticides are associated with excess risk of multiple myeloma, albeit inconclusively. We included 678 men (30-94 years) from a well-characterized prospective cohort of restricted-use pesticide applicators to assess the risk of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS).

Serum samples from all subjects were analyzed by electrophoresis performed on agarose gel; samples with a discrete or localized band were subjected to immunofixation. Age-adjusted prevalence estimates of MGUS were compared with MGUS prevalence in 9469 men from Minnesota.

Associations between pesticide exposures and MGUS prevalence were assessed by logistic regression models adjusted for age and education level. Among study participants older than 50 years (n = 555), 38 were found to have MGUS, yielding a prevalence of 6.8% (95% CI, 5.0%-9.3%). Compared with men from Minnesota, the age-adjusted prevalence of MGUS was 1.9-fold (95% CI, 1.3- to 2.7-fold) higher among male pesticide applicators.

Among applicators, a 5.6-fold (95% CI, 1.9- to 16.6-fold), 3.9-fold (95% CI, 1.5- to 10.0-fold), and 2.4-fold (95% CI, 1.1- to 5.3-fold) increased risk of MGUS prevalence was observed among users of the chlorinated insecticide dieldrin, the fumigant mixture carbon-tetrachloride/carbon disulfide, and the fungicide chlorothalonil, respectively. In summary, the prevalence of MGUS among pesticide applicators was twice that in a population-based sample of men from Minnesota, adding support to the hypothesis that specific pesticides are causatively linked to myelomagenesis.”

Study Finds Link Between Pesticide Exposure and Rare Blood Cancer Predecessor Pre-Myeloma (MGUS)

“Long-term exposure to permethrin and legacy organochlorine pesticides (aldrin, dieldrin, and lindane) increase the risk of developing monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a blood disease that likely precedes multiple myeloma (MM)—a type of blood cancer, according to research in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives…

Although there is a vast amalgamation of research linking cancer risk to genetic and external factors (e.g., cigarette smoke), there is increasing evidence that pesticide exposure augments the risk of developing both common and rare cancers, including MM.

This study highlights the importance of understanding how pesticide use can increase the risk of latent diseases, which do not readily develop upon initial exposure.

Study researchers state, “Our findings provide important insights regarding exposures to specific pesticides that may contribute to the excess of MM among farmers… [T]he continued widespread residential and other use of permethrin and environmental exposure to organochlorine insecticides due to legacy contamination…could have important public health implications for exposed individuals in the general population.”

The National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, and other health agencies intended that research assess the occurrence of MGUS in farmers and gauge any relationships between disease development and various pesticides. Using data from the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), researchers evaluated MGUS incidences among 1,638 male farmers, aged 50 years or older, from a prospective cohort in Iowa and North Carolina. Researchers statically quantified the strength of association between MGUS incidents for recent (≤12 months) and cumulative lifetime use of differing specific pesticides, using an odds ratio (OR).

The study results demonstrate MGUS is significantly more common among AHS study participants than men of a similar demographic in the general population. Researchers find an association between recent permethrin use and MGUS incidence, especially among individuals with a history of past permethrin use. MGUS rates increase with long-term use of organochlorine insecticides aldrin and dieldrin compared to individuals without exposure to both pesticides. Similarly, data demonstrate a positive association between MGUS incidences and petroleum oil/distillates as herbicides.

The presence of abnormal proteins (monoclonal [M] protein) in the blood within bone marrow is a characterization of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance…

This study adds to the growing body of research on MGUS and pesticide exposure, becoming the largest to investigate MGUS incidences in farmers and the first to show an association between MGUS and permethrin use (a pyrethroid insecticide). In combination with previous studies demonstrating that exposure to permethrin may elevate MM risk among farmers, these findings provide reliable evidence establishing a link between permethrin and MM development…

Although this research finds an inverse association between MGUS and fonofos (organophosphate insecticide) use, EPA classifies the pesticides as an extremely hazardous substance, canceling registration in 1998. Moreover, previous AHS findings associate fonofos exposure with an increase in prostate cancer risk…

Beyond Pesticides tracks the most recent studies related to pesticide exposure through our Pesticide Induced Diseases Database (PIDD). This database supports the clear need for strategic action to shift away from pesticide dependency. For more information on the multiple harms, pesticides can cause, see PIDD pages on sexual and reproductive dysfunction, endocrine disruption, cancer, and other diseases.”

Myeloma, Cancer, Genetic Markers, Risk - PeopleBeatingCancer says 9 months ago

[…] To Learn More about possible causes of Pre-Myeloma- click now […]

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Stephen Kelly says a couple of years ago

David, I see Neem oil is being trialed with another drug. Can I assume Been oil is a save pesticide to use around it house?

David Emerson says last year

Hi Steve-

I replied to you directly via email.

David

SMM, MGUS, Fibromyalgia, Neuralgia? - PeopleBeatingCancer says 3 years ago

[…] MGUS Cause- Pesticide Use […]

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Risk of MGUS in Relatives of MMers - PeopleBeatingCancer says 5 years ago

[…] Pesticide Use Increases Risk of MGUS (Pre-Myeloma) MGUS Screening? Can MGUS Spur Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers? MGUS Increases the Risk of Blood Clots […]

Diagnosed with SMM, SPB, or MGUS?

Pre-Myeloma- Pesticides, Virus’, Environment?

“Among study participants older than 50 years, 38 were found to have MGUS, (pre-myeloma) yielding a prevalence of 6.8%

Recommended Reading:

Pesticide exposure and risk of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in the Agricultural Health Study.

Study Finds Link Between Pesticide Exposure and Rare Blood Cancer Predecessor Pre-Myeloma (MGUS)

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