Mortality from cancer of the male reproductive tract and environmental exposure to the anti-androgen p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene in the United States.

The association of prostate cancer mortality and testicular cancer mortality with environmental exposure to the anti-androgen dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) derivative p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE) in the USA was explored in the period 1971-1994 using multiple linear regression analysis. Environmental p,p'-DDE contamination by state was estimated by p,p'-DDE concentrations in the subcutaneous fat of population samples and by measurements of p,p'-DDE in tree bark. On average, African Americans had adipose p,p'-DDE levels 74% higher than Whites (8.49 vs. 4.88 microg/g; p < 0.001). Neither prostate cancer mortality nor testicular cancer mortality showed a positive association with either indicator of p,p'-DDE environmental contamination. On the contrary, the regression coefficient for prostate cancer was constantly inverse for adipose p,p'-DDE along the period of study, although it approached statistical significance only for African Americans in 1981-1985 (P=-0.755; 0.10 > p > 0.05). This ecologic study does not provide support to the hypothesis of a link between environmental exposure to DDT derivatives and cancer of the male reproductive tract.