Reemoving carcinogens and reducing exposures to carcinogens is preferable and possible, a paper in the New England Journalof Medicine has concluded. It notes that of the 80,000 chemicals in products on the US market – many of which are imported – only 200 have been adequately tested for carcinogenicity. Since 1971, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has evaluated the cancer-causing potential of only around 900 agents and processes and identified 165 as carcinogenic or probably carcinogenic to humans with 249 as possibly carcinogenic although WHO and IARC estimates indicate the global fraction of cancers due to toxic environmental exposures could be between 7 per cent to 19 per cent. A prevention approach linked to stronger environmental laws and regulation is highlighted.

David Christiani. Combating the environmental causes of cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 364: pages 2266-2268, 3 March 2011.