Carcinogens

Formaldehyde now officially falls into the "known to be a human carcinogen" category. So does the botanical compound aristolochic acid. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has updated its Report on Carcinogens, and such were the results. That report lists compounds -- even biological ones (again, "natural" does not mean "safe," "nontoxic" or "please consume") -- known to increase or strongly suspected of increasing the risk of cancer. As for styrene, it can now officially be described as "reasonably anticipated" to be cancer-causing.

The styrene folks are not amused — not amused at all — by the federal government’s addition of the compound to a list of substances that might cause cancer. Representatives from — the Styrene Information and Research Center --  said they would fight "vigorously" to remove styrene’s new designation as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” That designation appears on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ most recent Report on Carcinogens.  The industry group contends that the inclusion is “completely unjustified.” In a news release Friday, the group condemned the inclusion, using terms such as “flawed process” and “preponderance of data” and tartly pointing out that the latest research by European scientists doesn’t support a link between styrene and cancer.

A growing body of evidence is raising doubts among some scientists about the ability of animal experiments to predict whether certain chemicals such as drugs, food additives and pesticides will cause cancer in humans. The controversy centers on a critical litmus test used by regulatory agencies in deciding whether chemicals are carcinogenic. Critics of the test say there is increasing evidence that the test is overpriced, inefficient and unreliable.

Formaldehyde now officially falls into the "known to be a human carcinogen" category. So does the botanical compound aristolochic acid. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has updated its Report on Carcinogens, and such were the results. That report lists compounds -- even biological ones (again, "natural" does not mean "safe," "nontoxic" or "please consume") -- known to increase or strongly suspected of increasing the risk of cancer. As for styrene, it can now officially be described as "reasonably anticipated" to be cancer-causing.

In a direct challenge to the federal government's primary method of determining the safety of chemicals, two new papers published today argue that feeding high doses of toxic chemicals to rats and mice does not accurately predict their potential to cause cancer in humans. The results seem likely to trigger a re-evaluation of the animal testing process.

Women who smoke during pregnancy transmit a known cancer-causing substance from tobacco to their children, producing what University of Minnesota scientists deemed "an unacceptable risk." About 61% of smoking women who become pregnant do not give up the habit during their pregnancy, according to a 1990 study. Chemist Stephen S. Hecht and his colleagues examined first urine samples from 48 newborns, both from smoking and nonsmoking mothers.

High levels of the cancer-causing pesticide DBCP (dibromochloropropane) have recently been found in well water in the small San Joaquin Valley farming town of McFarland, causing health officials to wonder if the toxic chemical may be linked to a dozen childhood cancer cases in that community. All uses of DBCP were banned a decade ago because the chemical is such a potent carcinogen.

The Environmental Protection Agency is about to unveil a long-awaited plan for restructuring the government's campaign against cancer-causing pollution, replacing old guidelines that listed certain chemicals as "possible," "probable" or "known" carcinogens, and reducing the role of animal testing.

The Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday ended a 30-year ban on cancer-causing pesticides that increase in concentration when treated fruits and vegetables are processed into soups, baby foods, sauces, juices and condiments. Under a new policy, the EPA will license such pesticides for use on raw produce and in processed foods if they pose no more than a "negligible risk" of cancer, that is, increase chances of the disease by no more than one in a million.

In an effort to lower the risk of cancer to people who live near a wide array of businesses ranging from metal platers to gasoline stations, regional air quality officials called Thursday for tougher controls on emissions of carcinogenic air contaminants.

Japanese emergency crews are scrambling to contain rising levels of extremely radioactive water that has leaked into tunnels and basement equipment rooms at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, putting up dangerous new obstacles to workers trying to bring the reactors under control. Workers were using sandbags and concrete panels Tuesday in a desperate attempt to prevent the contaminated water from further spreading through the plant or into the nearby soil and ocean. Their challenge is compounded by the fact that they must continue to douse water on the nuclear reactors and the spent fuel pools that would otherwise overheat and release additional radiation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency levied a $302,100 fine Tuesday against the operator of a toxic waste dump near a Central California farming community beset by unexplained birth defects, saying the company failed to properly manage carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Chemical Waste Management Inc., which owns the facility about 3½ miles southwest of Kettleman City, in July was given 60 days to clean up PCBs in soil adjacent to a building where hazardous wastes are treated for disposal.

In the mid-19th century in Europe, a rather strange theory arose ? the idea that eating arsenic could improve one's health. It originated with the discovery that peasants in the Austrian mining region of Styria liked to mix a little of the poison into their morning coffee. As reported in 1855, the miners had discovered that exposure to arsenic ? an element naturally occurring in metallic rocks ? brought "beauty and freshness to the complexion. " This pink-cheeked ideal of health led to what I always think of as the arsenic-eating insanity days of Victorian times.

In a major victory for community activists worried about health risks linked to a contaminated former nuclear research facility overlooking the west San Fernando Valley, state and federal authorities on Friday proposed a settlement agreement to clean up the site by 2017. Under the proposal by the U.S. Department of Energy and NASA, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control will oversee what is expected to be among the most intensive cleanup programs in the country. The effort would involve hauling significant amounts of soil contaminated with carcinogenic dioxins, heavy metals and radioactive materials from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to licensed waste dumps as far away as Utah, according to Rick Brausch, project director at the California agency.

People are exposed to a massive number of chemicals in the environment, and scientists know very little about their potential role in causing cancer, according to a new report from the President's Cancer Panel released Thursday. Government and industry should invest much more money in researching the potential risks of such chemicals — and that research should be done before the chemicals come into wide use, not after large numbers of people have been exposed to them, the report said.

When environmental activists began a survey of birth defects in this small migrant farming town halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the results were alarming. Approximately 20 babies were born here during the 14 months beginning in September 2007. Three of them died; each had been born with oral deformities known as clefts. Two others born with the defect during that period are undergoing medical treatment. The 1,500 primarily Spanish-speaking residents of this impoverished enclave just off Interstate 5 want to know what is causing these health problems.

Some shampoos and other bath products still contain traces of a cancer-causing petrochemical that federal health officials have expressed concerns about for more than 20 years, according to test results announced Thursday by environmental activists.

Declaring that toxic substances in the air are threatening public health, the South Coast Air Quality Management District on Friday approved controversial new limits on industrial emissions of 10 cancer-causing air contaminants. The new rule, which takes effect immediately, requires all new and existing businesses that expand or relocate within the region to be able to comply with the new limits or be denied a permit to operate equipment that produces the pollution.

Facing accusations that they were fast tracking approval of a known carcinogen, state pesticide regulators have resumed a review of the fumigant methyl iodide for use on strawberry fields. A peer review of methyl iodide had been suspended during the state budget crisis, prompting concern from legislators and environmentalists that the agency and the governor were bowing to industry pressure to approve the chemical as a substitute for the banned fumigant methyl bromide.