Evaluates the carcinogenic risk to humans posed by 20 individual
compounds and three groups of compounds (cyclamates, saccharin and its
salts, and nitrilotriacetic acid and its salts) that are known to induce
tumours of the kidney or urinary bladder in rodents. As data on cancer
in humans were judged inadequate for all compounds and groups of
compounds the evaluations draw on recent guidelines for determining
whether the mechanisms by which a chemical exerts its carcinogenic
effects in rodents are relevant to humans. Evaluations also draw on
findings from studies of metabolic fate toxic effects reproductive and
developmental effects and genetic and related effects.
Some of the compounds covered in the volume are widely used as chemical
intermediates, pesticides, artificial sweeteners and food additives. The
volume also includes evaluations of the analgesic and antipyretic
paracetamol and several naturally occurring substances in food. All but
two of the compounds (meta-dichlorobenzene and methyl tert-butyl ether)
were evaluated in previous IARC Monographs. Re-evaluations were made in
the light of both new studies of the compounds and a growing body of
evidence concerning certain pathological processes that lead to tumour
development in the kidney and urinary bladder of rats exposed to some
chemicals.
Eight compounds were classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans:
ortho-anisidine, chloroform, chlorothalonil, para-dichlorobenzene,
hexachloroethane, nitrilotriacetic acid and its salts, sodium
ortho-phenylphenate and potassium bromate. The remaining substances
could not be classified on the basis of available data.
Some Chemicals that Cause Tumors of the Kidney or Urinary Bladder in
Rodents and Some Other Substances
