Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

The Socio-cultural Factors behind the Rare Incidence of Cancers in Perumal Thevanpatti (Virudu Nagar District, Tamil Nadu)


Affiliations
1 Mother Teresa Women's University, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India
2 Mediclone Research Centre, Mediclone Biotech Pvt Ltd, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
3 Department of Biotechnology, Aarupadai Veedu Institute of Technology, Paiyanoor, Chennai, India
4 LifeLine Hospital, Perungudi, Chennai, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The nationwide cancer registration and systematic death registration is poor particularly, in rural India. It is just about1% of the total registry. Based on the people's report, a house-to-house survey was conducted in Perumal Thevan Patti, a small village in Virudunagar district in Tamil Nadu to identify the number of existing cancer cases, and the number of cancer deaths that occurred in that village. Cancers of breast, uterus, stomach and rectum are found to be more prevalent in this village cohort of population. As multiple factors are responsible for significantly higher prevalence of cancers in this village, counselling strategies may be adopted to discourage the indiscriminate use of pesticides, tobacco chewing and alcohol consumption for preventing cancer in this area. A cancer registry should be maintained for elucidation of the role of pesticides and other pro carcinogenic factors in the etiology of cancer.

Keywords

Agriculture, Agricultural Pesticides, Cancer, Occupational Exposure
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Cancer control in developing countries – challenges and opportunities The International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research. www.inctr-.htm
  • World Health Organization. Recommended guidelines for drinking water supply, Geneva: WHO, 1993.
  • Murray, C. J.; Lopez, A. D. Global Health status in developing countries: Global burden of Diseases and Injuries in SEARO, (Harvard School of Public Health). 1996, Vol. 1&2.
  • Official records of the Village Administration Officer, Perumal Thevan Patti
  • Kannan N. Virudunagar Mavattam.Kannagi Publications.2006
  • Venkat Raman A and Balkrishna BY. Assessing Cancer Burden in Rural India: An analysis by cause death statistics. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention. 2005, 6: 221-223.
  • Bittles AH. Consanguineous Marriage and childhood health. Developmental Medicine and child neurology. 2003, 45, 8, 571-576.
  • Ghadirian P, Narod S, Perret C, Lambert DM, Latreille J and Belanger DC, Hereditary breast cancer in 19 females and 2 males. European Journal of Cancer. 1995, 31:2:284-287.
  • Zham SH and Ward MH, Pesticides and childhood cancer. Environmental Health Perspectives. 1998, 106:3:893-16.Accessed on 2/ 3/06.
  • Dich J, Zahm SH, Hanberg A and Adami HO, Pesticides and cancer. Pubmed gov., 1997, 8:420- 43.
  • J. S. Thakur1, B. T. Rao1, Arvind Rajwanshi, H. K. Parwana and Rajesh Kumar1, Epidemiological Study of High Cancer among Rural Agricultural Community of Punjab in Northern India Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2008, 5(5) 399-407
  • Sinha, R.; Anderson, D. E.; McDonald, S. S.;Greenwald, P. Cancer risk and diet in India. JPostgrad Med, 2003, 49: 222-230.
  • Phukan, R. K.; Chetia, C. K.; Ali, M. S.; Mahanta, J. Role of dietary habits in the development ofesophageal cancer in Assam, the northeastern region of India. Nutr Cancer, 2001, 39: 204-9.
  • Chitra, S., Ashok L, Anand, Srinivasan, V Jayanthi, Risk factors for esophageal cancer in Coimbatore,Southern India: a hospital-based case – control study. Indian J Gastroenterol, 2004, 23:19-21.
  • Pandey M, Krishnan Nair MK, and Sebastian P. Advances in Oncology. Jaypee Brothers (p) Ltd.2000, 1:121-124.

Abstract Views: 251

PDF Views: 0




  • The Socio-cultural Factors behind the Rare Incidence of Cancers in Perumal Thevanpatti (Virudu Nagar District, Tamil Nadu)

Abstract Views: 251  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

P Indra
Mother Teresa Women's University, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India
K Ramalingam
Mediclone Research Centre, Mediclone Biotech Pvt Ltd, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Rekha Govindan
Department of Biotechnology, Aarupadai Veedu Institute of Technology, Paiyanoor, Chennai, India
B Aathavan
LifeLine Hospital, Perungudi, Chennai, India

Abstract


The nationwide cancer registration and systematic death registration is poor particularly, in rural India. It is just about1% of the total registry. Based on the people's report, a house-to-house survey was conducted in Perumal Thevan Patti, a small village in Virudunagar district in Tamil Nadu to identify the number of existing cancer cases, and the number of cancer deaths that occurred in that village. Cancers of breast, uterus, stomach and rectum are found to be more prevalent in this village cohort of population. As multiple factors are responsible for significantly higher prevalence of cancers in this village, counselling strategies may be adopted to discourage the indiscriminate use of pesticides, tobacco chewing and alcohol consumption for preventing cancer in this area. A cancer registry should be maintained for elucidation of the role of pesticides and other pro carcinogenic factors in the etiology of cancer.

Keywords


Agriculture, Agricultural Pesticides, Cancer, Occupational Exposure

References