Correlation between prostatic cancer and ethylene oxide exposure: occupational disease?

Abstract

There are several articles in the medical literature that seek to verify if occupational exposure to chemical agents would occasion an increase in the incidence of prostate cancer, although prostate cancer is a multifactorial disease that likely involves both environmental and genetic factors. There is evidence that the prostate cancer risk varies most prominently with age, ethnicity, family history, and diet. The objective of this paper was to check if ethylene oxide could have a causal nexus to the development of prostatic cancer. The review articles published within the last twenty years have shown that there is still no consistent evidence that any chemical agent has an influence on the incidence of prostatic cancer. Consequently, to date there is no way of establishing if ethylene oxide has a causal nexus - to the development of this pathology.