IARC said high exposures to lindane have previously been reported among agricultural workers and pesticide applicators. The insecticide lindane, once widely used in agriculture and to treat human lice and scabies, causes cancer and has been specifically linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also said that DDT, or dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, probably causes cancer, with scientific evidence linking it to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), testicular cancer and liver cancer. In a review of various agricultural chemicals, IARC’s specialist panel said it had decided to classify lindane as “carcinogenic to humans” in its Group 1 category, DDT as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in its Group 2A class, and the herbicide 2, 4-D as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” in its Group 2B.

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