Abstract
Nitrate content in the groundwater of Belarus has increased dramatically due to intensive use of nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture. Research performed during the post-Chernobyl period showed that the increased incidence of thyroid cancer is affected both by the level of nitrates in the groundwater and the radiation dose to which the thyroid was exposed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
UNEP/WHRC. Reactive Nitrogen in the Environment: Too Much of a Good Thing, Paris, 2007.
Townsend, A.R. and Howarth, R.W., Fixing the global nitrogen problem, Sci. Am., 2010, vol. 302, no. 2, pp. 64–71.
Evaluation of Certain Food Additives and Contaminants. Forty-fourth report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, no. 859, Geneva 1995.
Nitrate and Nitrite in Drinking-Water, Background document for development of WHO Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, 2011.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Drinking Water Regulations and Health Advisories, Office of Water, Washington DC,1995.
Nolan, B.T., Hitt, K.J., and Ruddy, B.C., Probability of nitrate contamination of recently recharged ground waters in the conterminous United States, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2002, vol. 36, no. 10, pp. 2138–2145.
Mueller, D.K., Hamilton, P.A., Helsel, D.R., Hitt, K.J., and Ruddy, B.C., Nutrients in Ground Water and Surface Water of the United States—An Analysis of Data through 1992, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Investigations Report 95-4031, Denver, 1995.
Ohashi, K., Tsutsumi, M., Tsujiuchi, T., Kobitsu, K., Okajima, E., Nakajima, Y., Nakano, H., Takahama, M., Mori, Y., and Konishi, Y., Enhancement of N-nitrosodiethylamine- initiated hepatocarcinogenesis caused by a colchicines-induced cell cycle disturbance in partially hepatecomized rats, Cancer Res., 1996, vol. 56, pp. 3473–3479.
IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risk to Humans, Overall Evaluations of Carcinogenicity, Suppl. 7, Lyon, 1987.
ATSDR, Toxicological Profile for N-Nitrosodimethylamine (Final Report), Atlanta, 1989.
Gangolli, S.D., Brandt, P.A., Feron, V.J., Janzowsky, C., Koeman, J.H., Speijers, G.J., Spiegelhalder, B., Walker, R., and Wisnok, J.S., Nitrate, nitrite and Nnitroso compounds, Eur. J. Pharmacol., 1994, vol. 292, no. 1, pp. 1–38.
Mensinga, T.T., Speijers, G.J., and Meulenbelt, J., Health implications of exposure to environmental nitrogenous compounds, Toxicol. Rev., 2003, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 41–51.
Harter, Th. and Lund, J.R., Addressing Nitrate in California’s Drinking Water with a Focus on Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley Groundwater, Report for the State Water Resources Control Board Report to the Legislature, Davis, 2012.
Ward, M., Levallois, P., Brender, J., Gulis, G., Nolan, B., and Vanderslice, J., Workgroup report: drinking-water nitrate and health—Recent findings and research needs, Environ. Health Perspect., 2005, vol. 113, no. 11, pp. 1607–1614.
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Spontaneous abortions possibly related to ingestion of nitrate-contaminated well water—LaGrange County, Indiana, 1991–1994, Morb. Mort. Wkly Rep., 1996, vol. 45, no. 26, pp. 569–572.
Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen— Health Criteria, EPA/600/R-08/071, 2008.
Ward, M.H., Mark, S.D., Cantor, K.P., Weisenburger, D.D., Correa-Villasenor, A., and Zahm, S.H., Drinking water nitrate and the risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Epidemiology, 1996, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 465–471.
Gatseva, P. and Dimitrov, I., Population morbidity in a community with nitrate contamination of drinking water, Folia Med. (Plovdiv), 1997, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 65–71.
Gatseva, P.D. and Argirova, M.D., High-nitrate levels in drinking water may be a risk factor for thyroid dysfunction in children and pregnant women living in rural Bulgarian areas, Int. J. Hyg. Environ. Health, 2008, vol. 211, nos. 5–6, pp. 555–559.
Hampel, R., Zollner, H., Glass, A., and Schonebec, R., No influence of urinary nitrate excretion on the goitre prevalence in Germany, Med. Klin. (Munich), 2003, vol. 98, no. 10, pp. 547–551.
Tajtakova, M., Semanova, Z., Tomkova, Z., Szokeova, E., Majoros, J., Radikova, Z., Seböková, E.Klimes, and Langer, P., Increased thyroid volume and frequency of thyroid disorders signs in schoolchildren from nitrate polluted area, Chemosphere, 2006, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 559–564.
Radikova, Z., Tajtakova, M., Kocan, A., Trnovec, T., Sebokova, E., Klimes, I., and Langer, P., Possible effects of environmental nitrates and toxic organochlorines on human thyroid in highly polluted areas in Slovakia, Thyroid, 2008, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 353–362.
Ward, M.H., Kilfoy, B.A., Weyer, P.J., Anderson, K.E., Folsom, A.R., and Cerhan, J.R., Nitrate intake and the risk of thyroid cancer and thyroid disease, Epidemiology, 2010, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 389–395.
Eskiocak, S., Dundar, C., Basoglu, T., and Altaner, S., The effects of taking chronic nitrate by drinking water on thyroid functions and morphology, Clin. Exp. Med., 2005, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 66–71.
Pellegriti, G., Frasca, F., Regalbuto, C., Squatrito, S., and Vigneri, R., Worldwide increasing incidence of thyroid cancer: update on epidemiology and risk factors, J. Cancer Epidemiol., 2013, vol. 2013, article ID 965212.
Merlo, D.F., Filiberti, R., Kobernus, M., Bartonova, A., Gamulin, M., Ferencic, Z., Dusinska, M., and Fucic, A., Cancer risk and the complexity of the interactions between environmental and host factors: HENVINET interactive diagrams as simple tools for exploring and understanding the scientific evidence, Environ Health, 2012, vol. 11, suppl. 1, p. S9.
Mettler, F.A.Jr., Wiest, P.W., Locken, J.A., and Kelsey, C.A., CT scanning: patterns of use and dose, J. Radiol. Prot., 2000, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 353–359.
Mettler, F.A.Jr., Bhargavan, M., Thomadsen, B.R., Gilley, D.B., Lipoti, J.A., Mahesh, M., McCrohan, J., and Yoshizumi, T.T., Nuclear medicine exposure in the united states, 2005–2007: preliminary results, Semin. Nucl. Med., 2008, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 384–391.
Kudelsky, A.V., Pashkevich, V.I., Kapora, M.S., and Kavalenka, M.K., Quality of drinking groundwater of Belarus, Nat. Res., 2009, no. 1, pp. 53–61.
Drozdova, E.V., Buraya, V.V., and Rudik, V.A., Nitrate pollution of drinking water in Belarus: the analysis of the problem and arguments for further studies, Health Environ., 2010, vol. 15, pp. 56–61.
Drozd, V.M., Saenko, V.A., Brenner, A.V., Drozdovitch, V., Pashkevich, V.I., Kudelsky, A.V., Demidchik, Y.E., Branovan, I., Shiglik, N., Rogounovitch, T.I., Yamashita, S., and Biko, J., Major factors affecting incidence of childhood thyroid cancer in Belarus after the Chernobyl accident: do nitrates in drinking water play a role?, PLoS One, 2015, vol. 9, no. 9, p. e0137226.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © V.M. Drozd, I. Branovan, N. Shiglik, M.L. Lushchyk, T.Yu. Platonova, V.I. Pashkevich, A.V. Kudelsky, I. Shimanskaya, L.I. Danilova, J. Biko, C. Reiners, 2016, published in Tsitologiya i Genetika, 2016, Vol. 50, No. 6, pp. 23–28.
About this article
Cite this article
Drozd, V.M., Branovan, I., Shiglik, N. et al. Effect of nitrates in drinking water on the prevalence of thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases: a literature review and post-Chernobyl research experience in Belarus. Cytol. Genet. 50, 372–376 (2016). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0095452716060074
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S0095452716060074