Possible correlations between nitrate pollution of drinking water and neoplastic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract
Poch, M.
Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Hygiene und ihre Grenzgebiete 33(10): 528-529
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0049-8610 PMID: 3433839 Document Number: 291969
A correlation calculation between the use of nitrate fertilizers in agriculture (mineral fertilizers including stable manure, liquid manure, compost, etc.) and the average nitrate values of the drinking waters of waterworks in the GDR showed a vey strong dependence with r = 0.98. Higher nitrate content in drinking water is assumed to be in relation-due to nitrosamine formation-with the genesis of neoplastic changes in the gastrointestinal tract. Ten-year average nitrate values of chemical water analyses of all municipalities/communes of the Erfurt district were related statistically to the new cases of gastrointestinal cancer. The found r-value was 0.0277, which indicates that under the present conditions rather evidence of no connection can be deduced.