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Posted on Jun 08, 2016, 6 a.m.
50 chemicals to which the public is exposed to on a daily basis, when combined, may trigger cancer.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimates that as many as 19% of all cancers may be attributable to toxic environmental exposures. A global taskforce of 174 scientists from leading research centers across 28 countries studied the link between mixtures of commonly encountered chemicals and the development of cancer. The study selected 85 chemicals not considered carcinogenic to humans and found 50 supported key cancer-related mechanisms at exposures found in the environment today. The group warns that: “Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies.”
W. H. Goodson, et al. “Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead.” Carcinogenesis, (2015) 36 (Suppl 1): S254-S296.
