Epidemiology of chemical cancers
Sancho-Garnier, H.
La Semaine des Hopitaux Organe Fonde Par l'Association d'Enseignement Medical des Hopitaux de Paris 59(27-28): 2011-2014
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-1777 PMID: 6312564 Document Number: 203931
The relationship between environment and the development of human carcinomas is no longer questionable. The term environment designates exposures that are both collective (pollution of air, water, occupational environment) and individual (tobacco, food, drugs). Epidemiological research, supported by experimental investigations, has led to the determination of a "profile" of various risk factors. This profile is always incomplete since man continuously modifies his environment, thus exposing himself to agents against which he has no protective mechanisms. The multiplicity of chemical or physical carcinogenetic agents makes their study difficult as the development of a carcinoma is probably not due to contact with a single carcinogenic factor but rather of the sum of all possible causative agents. Current data on the role of chemical environmental factors (pollution, occupational environment, dietary factors, tobacco, drugs) in the development of the various forms of cancer will be exposed and discussed.