Chemicals, Viruses Added to List of Known Carcinogens

Seventeen substances have been added to the government’s official list of known cancer-causing agents, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in Research Triangle Park, N.C. announced today – and several of the new chemicals on the list have been released into the air by industrial facilities in the Raleigh area.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released its 11th edition of its Report on Carcinogens. New listings include lead and lead compounds, nitrobenzene, compounds found in grilled meats, and chemicals used in textile dyes, paints and inks.

“Among U.S. residents, 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop cancer at some point in their lifetimes,” said Dr. Kenneth Olden, director of the NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program, which prepared the report for HHS. “Research shows that environmental factors trigger diseases like cancer, especially when someone has a family history.”

Lead, lead compounds and nitrobenzene were all being emitted into the air by Raleigh area companies in 2002, the most recent year for which government data is publicly available through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Explorer Web site.

Mallinckrodt Inc., a pharmaceutical company located at 8801 Capital Blvd., released more than 10,000 pounds of nitrobenzene into the air in 2002.

Other local companies emitting newly listed chemicals to the air in 2002 according to TRI data, were Elster Electricity at 201 S. Rogers Lane (90 pounds of lead), circuit board maker Gultech off of Spring Forest Road in North Raleigh (5 pounds of lead compounds) and electronics manufacturer AVX Corp. at 3900 Electronics Dr. in Raleigh (2 pounds of lead compounds). Gultech last year closed its Raleigh plant and moved to China.

Published every two years, the carcinogen report lists agents in two categories: “known to be human carcinogens” and “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.” The report now contains 58 “known” and 188 “reasonably anticipated” listings.

Among the chemicals added to the list of anticipated carcinogens:

* naphthalene (an ingredient in some moth repellants and toilet cleaners);

* lead (used to make batteries, ammunition and cable coverings);

* lead compounds (used in paint, glass and ceramics, fuel additives, and in some ethnic and ceremonial cosmetics);

* cobalt sulfate (used in electroplating, as a coloring agent for ceramics, and as a drying agent in inks and paints);

* diazoaminobenzene (used in the production of dyes and to promote adhesion of natural rubber to steel);

* nitrobenzene (used mainly in the production of other industrial chemicals);

* 1-amino-2, 4-dibromoanthraquinone (a vat dye used in the textile industry);

* 4,4'-thiodianiline (used in the preparation of dyes); and

* nitromethane (used in specialized fuels, explosives and in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals).

Also added to the list of suspects were MeIQ, MeIQx, and PhIP, compounds formed when meats and eggs are cooked or grilled at high temperatures. Oral studies in animals showed they caused cancer in organs including the forestomach, colon, liver, oral cavity, mammary gland, skin, and cecum. In addition, several human studies suggest an increased risk for breast and colorectal cancers from eating broiled or fried foods that may contain these and similar compounds.

For the first time in history, the report lists viruses as known carcinogens. They include hepatitis B, hepatitis C and some human papillomaviruses (HPV) that cause sexually transmitted diseases. Studies in humans have shown that chronic hepatitis infections cause liver cancer, while HPV infections have been linked to cervical cancer in women.

The NIEHS said the full report would be available on the NTP’s Web site here, though that Web site was not functioning through much of the day.