Pot vs. Your Testicles
February 10th, 2009 by Alex
MSNBC has detailed a study recently published in The Cancer Journal (sorry, subscription only). Researchers claim to have found a link between long-term marijuana usage and nonseminoma testicular cancer, which can be a particularly aggressive form of the disease.
The biggest problem with this study is that it only studied around 1,400 men in the Seattle area, 979 men without the disease and 369 with it. It’s not exactly a big enough sampling to conclusively prove anything.
Then again, there are some concerning aspects to this report. Researches saw an increase as high as 70% in developing testicular cancer among heavy, chronic pot users compared to those who don’t smoke marijuana.
Stephen Schwartz, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said:
This is the first study to look at this question, and by itself is not definitive. And there’s a lot more research that would have to be done in order to be more confident that marijuana use really is important in a man’s risk of developing testicular cancer.
However, as the article also explains, scientists have found little explanation for the cause of the disease, which I think would be a better use of taxpayer dollars in regards to cancer research.
Either way, the whole staff here at tFS are praying this is a giant hoax by the scientific community to make us feel uneasy in our boxer-briefs.
