Marijuana Use Tied to Testicular Cancer Risk

Young men who use marijuana have a higher risk of testicular cancer, a new study found.

The study of 455 Californian men found those who had smoked pot were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with testicular germ cell tumors, the most common form of testicular cancer in men younger than 35.

"Testicular cancer is on the rise," said study author Victoria Cortessis, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles. "So we asked, 'What is it that young men are doing more frequently that could account for the increased risk?'"

Cortessis and colleagues used interviews to probe recreational drug use among 163 men diagnosed with testicular cancer and 292 healthy men of the same age, and found those who smoked marijuana had double the risk of testicular tumors compared with men who passed on grass. On top of that, their tumors tended to be faster-growing and tougher to treat.

"Most men who get testicular cancer today survive, and that's wonderful. But as a result of treatment, they may have problems with fertility or sexual function," said Cortessis. "So we're talking about the risk of developing the cancer in the first place as well as the subsequent effects of the cancer and its treatment."

I know this is an esoteric point, but for the type of study they are describing, this is the wrong kind of conclusion.

The conclusion stated here would be appropriate for a study where two groups of patients were being compared (one pot-smoking, one not), and the incidence of various adverse health outcomes were being analyzed. But that's not the study described. They actually determined that it was more likely that someone diagnosed with testicular cancer has a history of smoking pot than someone from the general population. That is important information, but it really does not equate to how much pot smoking increases the risk of testicular cancer.

Maybe the problem is in communicating study results to a non-scientifically trained journalist.

I will say that I do not question the result that pot smoking increases the incidence of testicular cancer. If I recall, marijuana has a far higher content of carcinogens than tobacco.

There are zero carcinogens in marijuana. Unless you are depending upon governmental studies that also claim mj is 100 times more cancerous than cigarettes...

Most studies are "government studies", regardless of the topic. Since I'm also a government scientist, and the government paid for my education, I honestly cannot see what is wrong with a "government study."

The reality is that there is a lot of mythology related to marijuana. But there is very little research to back up the mythology. It does make sense that marijuana is full of carcinogens; common sense tells you that it isn't healthy to be inhaling smoke of any kind.

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