Abstract
In a fishing community Thyborøn-Harboøre on the Danish West coast, a chemical factory polluted air, sea, and ground with > 100 xenobiotic compounds. We investigated cancer incidence in the community. A historical cohort was identified from the Central Population Register and followed for cancer incidence in the Danish Cancer Register including inhabitants from 1968–1970 at height of pollution, and newcomers in 1990–2006 after pollution control. Two fishing communities without pollution, Holmsland and Hanstholm, were referent cohorts. We calculated rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). In 1968–1970, 4914 persons lived in Thyborøn-Harboøre, and 9537 persons in Holmsland-Hanstholm. Thyborøn-Harboøre had a statistically significant excess cancer incidence compared with Holmsland-Hanstholm; RR 1.20 (95% CI 1.11–1.29) deriving from kidney and bladder cancer; stomach and lung cancer in men, and colorectal cancer in women. In 1990–2006, 2933 persons came to live in Thyborøn-Harboøre. Their cancer incidence was the same as for newcomers to Holmsland-Hanstholm; RR 1.07 (95% CI 0.88–1.30). Persons in Thyborøn-Harboøre at height of chemical pollution had a cancer risk 20% above persons living in non-polluted fishing communities with a pattern unlikely to be attributable to life style. The study suggested that chemical pollution may have affected cancer risk.
Highlights
In a fishing community Thyborøn-Harboøre on the Danish West coast, a chemical factory polluted air, sea, and ground with > 100 xenobiotic compounds
The all-cause mortality; standardised mortality ratio (SMR) 0.96 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82–1.12), and the overall cancer incidence; standardised incidence ratio (SIR) 0.98, did not differ from the level expected for Danish men
Parathion was classified as a possible human carcinogen (Group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2 0157, and the environmental pollution around Cheminova derived mostly from the waste products, the IARC evaluation highlighted the interest in cancer incidence in Thyborøn-Harboøre
Summary
In a fishing community Thyborøn-Harboøre on the Danish West coast, a chemical factory polluted air, sea, and ground with > 100 xenobiotic compounds. Parathion was classified as a possible human carcinogen (Group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2 0157, and the environmental pollution around Cheminova derived mostly from the waste products, the IARC evaluation highlighted the interest in cancer incidence in Thyborøn-Harboøre. On this background the present study was undertaken. We evaluated the cancer incidence among persons living in Thyborøn-Harboøre, and compared with cancer incidence data from two fishing communities without chemical factories. This allowed us to determine whether the chemical pollution in the 1950s and 1960s left marks on the health of the people living in the area at that time, and whether the environmental pollution from this era affected the newcomers
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