2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: results from the Agricultural Health Study and an updated meta-analysis.

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of the literature on 2,4-D and NHL. Scientific meta-analyses involve examining and weighing the results of multiple studies together, because collectively those studies can tell us things they cannot tell us individually. This is the first meta-analysis conducted on 2,4-D and NHL to include data from the Agricultural Health Study (AHS). The AHS is an ongoing research project that has been studying the effects of pesticide exposure on the health of agricultural workers in Iowa and North Carolina. The AHS has several strengths; notably its large cohort of over 55,000 participants and the wide variety of ways in which it examines exposure.