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Does marijuana increase testicular cancer risk?

By | September 10, 2012, 7:48 AM PDT

Researchers from the University of Southern California suggest that smoking marijuana may increase the risk of developing testicular cancer.

Published in the journal Cancer, the scientist’s report suggests that there is a link between rates of testicular cancer and recreational marijuana use.

Testicular cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in young men between the ages of 15 and 45. However, the condition is becoming more common, and the aim of the study was to see if “unrecognized environmental causes” are contributing to the situation.

Victoria Cortessis, MSPH, PhD, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in Los Angeles and her colleagues analyzed the self-reported history of recreational drug use in 163 young men who were diagnosed with testicular cancer. As a comparative control group, the researchers compared these histories with 292 healthy young men of the same age group.

The team found that the testicular cancer sufferers with a history of smoking the plant were twice as likely to have contracted more serious sub-types of testicular cancer — known as non-seminoma and mixed germ cell tumors. These usually occur in younger men and are more severe than the common seminoma type. Cortessis said:

“We do not know what marijuana triggers in the testis that may lead to carcinogenesis, although we speculate that it may be acting through the endocannabinoid system — the cellular network that responds to the active ingredient in marijuana — since this system has been shown to be important in the formation of sperm.”

The team says these findings mean that men should be more wary of using marijuana for fun, and health professionals may want to keep this in mind when prescribing the drug’s therapeutic use in male patients.

Image credit: Flickr

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Charlie Osborne

About Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne is a contributing editor for SmartPlanet.

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne

Contributing Editor

Charlie Osborne is a freelance journalist and graphic designer based in London. In addition to SmartPlanet, she also writes the iGeneration column for business technology website ZDNet. She holds degrees in medical anthropology from the University of Kent.

Follow her on Twitter.

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne does not have financial holdings that would influence how or what she covers.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

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+2 Votes
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Iffy, at Best...
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.24159/abstract
This study, involving a lot more subjects showed a POSSIBLE relationship, but admitted in it's conclusion "additional studies need to be done." Truthfully, drinking water would likely be as risky, as referred to in this Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1023340/Chlorine-tap-water-nearly-doubles-risk-birth-defects.html
Posted by DrRexDexter
10th Sep
+3 Votes
+ -
Agree
There were some contradictory findings in the research. One that stood up was that those who used cannabis less frequently were more at risk of testicular cancer than those who used it daily.

There needs to be more studies on the effect of marijuana. I stopped believing the pro or con studies because there seems to be a bias flaw in those studies. An organization called MAPS is sueing the DEA to get access to marijuana for a stringent test but the DEA is the only source legally. The DEA can tilt a research by the quality of the marijuana or even provide adulterated marijuana.

I think it is important to describe the side effects as well as the benefits of medical marijuana in an unbiased and scientific way. The anti drug authorities act as if the danger of marijuana is obvious and don't spell out what those dangers are. The pro-pot group also push the beneficial side without addressing the dangers. The DEA is more interested in finding that marijuana is bad than to accept that there are benefits; this is probably to keep their department fully funded in the misguided war on drugs.
Posted by sboverie
11th Sep
0 Votes
+ -
Lovin it
I said the same thing SoCal is not the place to study anything because of its pollution.
Posted by doumor_99
5th Apr
+1 Vote
+ -
Certainly no worse a side effect...
...than the lowering of your IQ.
Posted by JohnMcGrew@...
11th Sep
+1 Vote
+ -
bad news
haha not only does continual use make people into zombies, their jewels also fall off. which effect is worse? self-cleaning feature of the gene pool. None of this green leafy stuff would be bad if people would practice moderation. But they don't..
Posted by opcom
11th Sep
0 Votes
+ -
Marijuana increases testicular cancer risk
Not only does it rot your brain, makes your balls fall off as well as causing hair to grow on your palms. The sky will also fall down and you will spend eternity in purgatory.
Posted by kwickset@...
28th Nov
0 Votes
+ -
What else did they do?
These studies are swayed . Some of these people go home and smoke 2 packs of cigarettes or drink a bottle of vodka. Food, Southern California Pollution, water you name it SOCAL is not the place to be studying cancer. Enough Said.
Posted by doumor_99
5th Apr
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