title: The science and practice of carcinogen identification and evaluation.
abstract: Several national and international health agencies have established programs with the aim of identifying agents and exposures that cause cancer in humans. Carcinogen identification is an activity grounded in the scientific evaluation of the results of human epidemiologic studies, long-term bioassays in experimental animals, and other data relevant to an evaluation of carcinogenicity and its mechanisms. In this commentary, after a brief discussion of the science basis common to the evaluation of carcinogens across different programs, we discuss in more detail the principles and procedures currently used by the IARC Monographs program.
authors.affiliation: International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France. cogliano@iarc.fr
authors.forename: Vincent James
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Cogliano
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Baan
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Straif
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Grosse
authors.forename: Marie Béatrice
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Secretan
authors.forename: Fatiha
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: El Ghissassi
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kleihues
mesh_terms: D001681:Biological Assay; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis*; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002273:Carcinogens; D015386:Hazardous Substances