Environmental factors and diseases of the pancreas.

The five major diseases of the pancreas together make a significant contribution 
to morbidity and mortality among the people of the United States. 
These diseases are diabetes, cystic fibrosis, acute and chronic pancreatitis, and 
carcinoma of the exocrine pancreas. Four of these diseases can be 
modeled in laboratory animals by acute or chronic administration of chemical 
poisons or carcinogens. Human pancreatic diseases attributed to the effect of 
chemical agents including alcohol and drugs include many cases of chronic 
pancreatitis and some cases of acute pancreatitis. The cause is not 
known in many cases of human pancreatitis, including interstitial, acute, and 
chronic clinical forms. Epidemiologic studies suggest that the increasing incidence of 
carcinoma of the exocrine pancreas in the United States may reflect 
chemical carcinogenesis. On the basis of experimental observations, we know that 
pancreatic islet cells can be damaged directly by toxic chemicals, and 
that islet cell tumors can be chemically induced. Thus, there is 
adequate background data to conclude that several pancreatic diseases of obscure 
etiology may be due in part to hitherto unidentified toxic effects 
of chemical agents encountered in personal or general environments. 