Book reviews and cooking practices in impoverished communities, which are responsible for a massive burden of respiratory ill health, contrast sharply with the concerns about possible health risks from low level exposures in western homes. Problems of air pollution in offices, industrial environments, and labora
A number of methods for categorization of carcinogens, including classification and ranking, have been examined and applied to 13 carcinogenic chemicals. Compounds known to be carcinogenic to humans ranked highly in the ranking systems. The TD50 approach was a satisfactory ranking system. The examination of the classification system of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the studies of the ranking systems revealed the importance of considering the underlying mechanisms of carcinogenesis. Some of the important problems of categorizing carcinogens are discussed.
1 It has been accepted in many countries that the regula tion of ambient air quality should involve the use of health-based air quality standards. 2 Setting standards for air pollutants which are genotox ic carcinogens presents difficult problems to the regu lator, in that the prediction of the effects on health of low levels of exposure is suspected to be inaccurate, and is not presently amenable to either experimental or epidemiological verification. 3 In some countries, techniques of Mathematical Quantitative Risk Assessment (MQRA) have been adopted to calculate acceptable levels of exposure to, or the unit risk factors for, genotoxic carcinogens. We regard these approaches as unsatisfactory. 4 An alternative approach, based upon a number of argued premises, a strategy which identifies decision points and the cautious application of uncertainty fac tors, is described.
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