EPA To Revise Cancer Guidelines To Incorporate More Than Tumors: • Risk assessment guides will consider more data, including mode of action, default assumptions, range of possible effects

The process used by the Environmental Protection Agency to determine if a chemical is a carcinogen was set in place in 1986, and now most scientists appear to believe it is outmoded. To bring the mechanism up to date, EPA is revising its guidelines for carcinogenic risk assessment to incorporate the most current thinking in cancer research. A draft of these new guidelines was reviewed earlier this month at a special workshop by a group of scientists at the request of EPA. The agency realizes it has fallen behind and wants to catch up. This revision is important, because when EPA decides that a chemical has potential to cause cancer in humans, a cascade of regulatory activity ensues: The chemical is added to myriad lists of dangerous substances, states and nations impose controls on its use or manufacture, and labels must be affixed to containers holding even a small amount of the chemical. Special reviews ...