A team of researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, interviewed 369 men between the ages of 18 and 44 who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. They compared the results with a control group of 979 men without cancer who lived in the same area.

The study found that 26 percent of the participants were pot smokers, compared with 20 percent of men who weren’t diagnosed with testicular cancer. At the same time, those who smoked marijuana were more likely to develop a type of testicular cancer known as nonseminoma.  

 

The study concluded that marijuana was a clear risk factor for testicular cancer.

“What young men should know is first, we know very little about the long-term health consequences of marijuana smoking, especially heavy marijuana smoking, and second, our study provides some evidence that testicular cancer could be one adverse consequence,” the researchers said.

 

There are more than 28 million marijuana users in the United States and approximately 300 million around the world.

Testicular cancer strikes about 8,000 men in the U.S. annually, according to the American Cancer Society. The condition mainly affects young men between the ages of 20 and 39. Symptoms include pan, swelling or lumps in the testicles. Risk factors for the disease include previous injuries to the testicles, or a family history of the disease.