Likely risk

Likely risks of cancer involve exposure to a known carcinogen or an agent considered to be a probable carcinogen.

Occupational cancer reasonably attributable to specific agents

Situation	Occupational cancer reasonably attributable to specific agents
Exposure	Relevant workers
Carcinogen	Trichloroethylene Polychlorinated biphenyls Acrylamide Diesel exhaust
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation and dermal
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Liver, biliary tract Pancreas Lung
Comment	Compounds specified are occupational hazards which also have an environmental impact .

Particular workplaces, job classifications or occupational environments

Situation	Particular workplaces, job classifications or occupational environments
Exposure	Workers undertaking various occupations
Carcinogen	Not identified; risk related to work environment: eg. Hairdressing Petroleum refining Firefighting
Principal route of exposure	Implicitly inhalation and dermal exposure, but clear specification not possible.
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Urinary bladder, NHL Skin cancer, leukaemia Multiple myeloma
Comment	Consult IARC Group 2A ‘Exposure Circumstances’. Examples cited have implications relating to non-work exposures.

Work using insecticides apart from arsenic-containing compounds

Situation	Work using insecticides apart from arsenic-containing compounds
Exposure	Workers manufacturing & applying insecticides
Carcinogen	Occupational exposure to multiple insecticides
Principal route of exposure	Dermal and inhalation
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Lung, multiple myeloma, NHL
Comment	No single agent has been shown to predominatly account for risk.

Local atmospheric pollution from point sources of industrial emissions

Situation	Local atmospheric pollution from point sources of industrial emissions
Exposure	Residents of particular local communities
Carcinogen	Multiple, often unspecified, from petrochemical, steel and other industry
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Lung
Comment	Attributing risk to specific agents is inherently difficult.

General atmospheric pollution (excluding tobacco smoke)

Situation	General atmospheric pollution (excluding tobacco smoke)
Exposure	Whole population
Carcinogen	Pollutants include - Diesel exhaust - Gasoline exhaust - Sulphur dioxide
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Lung
Comment	Quantitative assessment is required to adequately characterise risk in differing locations.

Tanning through sunlamps and solaria

Situation	Tanning through sunlamps and solaria
Exposure	Persons using the appliances
Carcinogen	Ultraviolet radiation
Principal route of exposure	Irradiation
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Skin
Comment	Sunlamp data plus carcinogenic hazard established in relation to solar irradiation.

Smoking marijuana

Situation	Smoking marijuana
Exposure	Smokers of marijuana
Carcinogen	Smoke contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other compounds
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation
Target organ (or tumour type)	Lung
Comment	Currently available data do not clearly establish causality

Occupational exposure to cytotoxic drugs

Situation	Occupational exposure to cytotoxic drugs
Exposure	Oncology nurses and pharmacists
Carcinogen	Cyclophosphamide and conventional cytotoxic drugs
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation & Dermal
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Not clear; no direct evidence
Comment	Evidence of exposure and inference of biological effects (reduced birth numbers)

Prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke

Situation	Prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke
Exposure	Children whose mothers smoke during pregnancy
Carcinogen	Tobacco smoke
Principal route of exposure	Transplacental
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Leukaemia
Comment	One of a many environmental pollutants implicated in epidemiological studies of childhood cancer

Formaldehyde emitted from building products

Situation	Formaldehyde emitted from building products
Exposure	Occupants of relevant buildings
Carcinogen	Formaldehyde
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Nasopharynx and associated cavities
Comment	Formaldehyde considered an indoor air pollutant.

Cancer attributable to preserved timber in playgrounds

Situation	Cancer attributable to preserved timber in playgrounds
Exposure	Children primarily
Carcinogen	Copper chrome arsenate
Principal route of exposure	Ingestion, dermal absorption of As/Cr compounds
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Not clear
Comment	Direct evidence of exposure.

Contamination of food by vinyl chloride

Situation	Contamination of food by vinyl chloride
Exposure	Whole population
Carcinogen	Vinyl chloride
Principal route of exposure	Ingestion
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Angiosarcoma primarily
Comment	Monomer detected in some foods

Benzene contamination of specific food or drink products

Situation	Benzene contamination of specific food or drink products
Exposure	Whole population
Carcinogen	Benzene
Principal route of exposure	Ingestion
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Not clear
Comment	Unacceptable food contamination by a recognised carcinogen.

Living near a properly-operating nuclear facility

Situation	Living near a properly-operating nuclear facility
Exposure	Local community
Carcinogen	Ionizing radiation
Principal route of exposure	Irradiation
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Leukaemia, breast, thyroid
Comment	Very low incidence of occupational disease

Asbestos in drinking water

Situation	Asbestos in drinking water
Exposure	Particular communities
Carcinogen	Asbestos
Principal route of exposure	Ingestion
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Colo-rectum and possibly other sites
Comment	Inference of hazard from bioassay data

Contamination of food by aflatoxins in developed countries

Situation	Contamination of food by aflatoxins in developed countries
Exposure	Whole population
Carcinogen	Aflatoxins
Principal route of exposure	Ingestion
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Liver
Comment	Routine monitoring to prevent contamination.

Environmental contamination by polychlorinated biphenyls

Situation	Environmental contamination by polychlorinated biphenyls
Exposure	Whole population
Carcinogen	Polychlorinated Biphenyl congeners
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation, dermal
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	NHL
Comment	Levels in tissues and bodily fluids falling over time

Eating TCDD-contaminated food

Situation	Eating TCDD-contaminated food
Exposure	Specific populations, particular families of fishermen
Carcinogen	TCDD
Principal route of exposure	Ingestion
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Not clear; possibly all cancer combined
Comment	Mode of exposure distinct from disaster or occupational exposure

Living near waste incinerator

Situation	Living near waste incinerator
Exposure	Specific local populations
Carcinogen	TCDD
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation, oral
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	All cancer combined
Comment	Marked reduction in TCDD exposure in developed countries during last 2 decades

Living near a contaminated site, apart from circumstances involving arsenic contaminated water supply

Situation	Living near a contaminated site, apart from circumstances involving arsenic contaminated water supply
Exposure	Surrounding community
Carcinogen	Pollution often involves multiple chemicals including heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, solvents and others.
Principal route of exposure	Inhalation and possibly dermal
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Liver and possibly other sites
Comment	In the absence of increased cancer incidence, inference of exposure and harm may be evident from, for example, decreased birth weight

Acrylamide in (deep fried) food

Situation	Acrylamide in (deep fried) food
Exposure	Consumers of particular products and possible whole population
Carcinogen	Acrylamide
Principal route of exposure	Oral
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Colo-rectum
Comment	Altered of food pro-cesssing to minimize contamination, regard-less of cancer detection.

Nitrosamines in beer, cured meats and other food

Situation	Nitrosamines in beer, cured meats and other food
Exposure	Persons eating relatively large amounts of processed meat
Carcinogen	N-nitrosodimethyl-amine and possibly other N-nitroso compounds
Principal route of exposure	Ingestion
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Stomach, and possibly other sites
Comment	Bioassay & metabolism by human tissue provide unequivocal evidence of hazard

Leaching of fire retardant from children’s sleep ware

Situation	Leaching of fire retardant from children’s sleep ware
Exposure	Infants
Carcinogen	Tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate
Principal route of exposure	Dermal & oral
Likely target organ (or tumour type)	Not clear
Comment	Direct evidence of absorption from clothing.

This information is based on peer review research published in the journal: B.W. Stewart, Banding carcinogenic risks in developed countries: A procedural basis for qualitative assessment, Mutat. Res.: Rev. Mutat. Res. (2008), doi:10.1016/j.mrrev.2007.11.007.

This page was last updated on : Tuesday, 17 January 2012