Dr. Klotz, a leading Canadian authority on testicular cancer, said it usually begins in the foetus, when male sex organs are being formed. The testicle is extremely sensitive to hormonal influences in utero. When a boy hits puberty and his testicular cells undergo rapid growth, these malformed cells can cause cancer. In 1965, there were 69 cases of testicular cancer reported in Ontario males aged 15 to 29. In 1995, there were 215, although the study suggests an unexplained dropoff in the risk to young boys in the past five or six years.
Testicular cancer is still rare in spite of the steady increase.
It strikes about six in 100,000 males in Canada each year and is not usually fatal. Treatment is not a trivial matter, however. It means surgical removal of a testicle, radiation, and often chemotherapy. Some patients become sterile, like Mr. Desjardins, who wonders if living in Canada's industrial heartland exposed him to chemical dangers. Scientists have been concerned about the effects of so-called endocrine disruptors since the early 1980s, when Scandinavian researchers began noticing changes in male sex characteristics.