Overview
- A new systematic review and meta-analysis pooling data from multiple international studies found that people with occupational pesticide exposure had roughly 60–70% higher odds of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis compared with unexposed workers.
- The pooled results indicated stronger associations for herbicides, with about a 70% increased risk, and showed a dose–response pattern where high occupational exposure approached a threefold rise in risk.
- When results were broken down by sex the increased risk concentrated in men, who were about twice as likely to develop ALS after pesticide exposure, while no clear increase was seen in women in the available studies.
- Authors and commentators stressed major study limits that mean these findings show association not proof of causation, specifically retrospective designs, crude or self-reported exposure measures, small numbers of primary studies, and possible recall and confounding biases.
- The researchers recommend interventions to reduce workplace exposure and say future work should use prospective studies with quantitative exposure measures and chemical-specific analysis to guide stronger occupational safeguards and regulatory decisions.