Though overall cancer incidence and mortality have continued to decline in recent years, cancer continues to devastate the lives of far too many Americans. In 2009 alone, 1.5 million American men, women, and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 died from the disease. There is a growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer. The Pres. Cancer Panel dedicated its 2008¿2009 activities to examining the impact of environmental factors on cancer risk. The Panel considered industrial, occupational, and agricultural exposures as well as exposures related to medical practice, military activities, modern lifestyles, and natural sources. This report presents the Panel¿s recommend. to mitigate or eliminate these barriers. Illus.

Volume 100 compiles information on tumor sites and mechanisms of carcinogenesis. About half of the agents classified in Group 1 were last reviewed more than 20 years ago, before mechanistic studies became prominent in evaluations of carcinogenicity. In addition, more recent epidemiological studies and animal cancer bioassays have demonstrated that many cancer hazards reported in earlier studies were later observed in other organs or through different exposure scenarios. Much can be learned by updating the assessments of agents that are known to cause cancer in humans. Accordingly, IARC has selected A Review of Human Carcinogensto be the topic for Volume 100. It is hoped that this volume, by compiling the knowledge accumulated through several decades of cancer research, will stimulate cancer prevention activities worldwide, and will be a valued resource for future research to identify other agents suspected of causing cancer in humans. Volume 100 was developed by six separate Working Groups: Pharmaceuticals; Biological agents; Metals, particles, and fibres; Radiation; Personal habits and household exposures; Chemical agents and related occupations. Because the scope of Volume 100 is so broad, its Monographs are focused on key information. Each Monograph presents a description of a carcinogenic agent and how people are exposed, critical overviews of the epidemiological studies and animal cancer bioassays, and a concise review of the agent's toxicokinetics, plausible mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and potentially susceptible populations, and life-stages. Details of the design and results of individual epidemiological studies and animal cancer bioassays are summarized in tables. Short tables that highlight key results are printed in Volume 100, and more extensive tables that include all studies appear on the Monographs programe website (http://monographs.iarc.fr/). For a few well-established associations (for example, tobacco smoke and human lung cancer), it was impractical to include all studies, even in the website tables. In those instances, the rationale for inclusion or exclusion of sets of studies is given.

"This publication represents the views and expert opinions of an IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risk to Humans, which met in Lyon, 8-15 October 2013."

This volume of the IARC Monographs provides an assessment of the carcinogenicity of fluoro-edenite fibrous amphibole, silicon carbide fibres and whiskers, and carbon nanotubes, including single-walled and multiwalled types. None of these agents had been assessed previously by the IARC Monographs Working Group. The Working Group relied mainly on epidemiological studies to evaluate the carcinogenic hazard to humans exposed to fluoro-edenite fibrous amphibole, an environmental contaminant that was reported to cause mesothelioma in the regional population of Biancavilla, Sicily, Italy. Silicon carbide fibres are by-products of the manufacture of silicon carbide particles by the Acheson process; silicon carbide whiskers are produced by other processes. The evaluations of the fibres and of the occupational exposures associated with the Acheson process were mainly based on epidemiological studies, whereas the assessment of the whiskers--in the absence of epidemiological--was based on carcinogenicity bioassays and consideration of their physical properties. In view of the absence of epidemiological studies on carbon nanotubes and the limited information available from mechanistic data, the evaluations of single-walled and multiwalled carbon nanotubes relied essentially on carcinogenicity bioassays.

This volume of the IARC Monographs provides evaluations of the carcinogenicity of quinoline, styrene, and styrene-7,8-oxide. Quinoline and styrene are present in air pollution and in tobacco smoke. Quinoline also occurs in the processing of petroleum and shale oil, and is found in groundwater and soil at sites contaminated by coal tar and creosote. Quinoline and styrene are high production volume chemicals. Quinoline is used to produce various drugs and dyes. Styrene is primarily used in the production of polystyrene polymers. Styrene-7,8-oxide is primarily used to produce epoxy resins. Styrene-7,8-oxide is the primary metabolite of styrene in humans. Styrene and styrene-7,8-oxide are found in workplace air, particularly in the reinforced plastics industry and the rubber industry. Exposure to these agents may occur in the general population as well as in various occupational settings. An IARC Monographs Working Group reviewed epidemiological evidence, animal bioassays, and mechanistic and other relevant data to reach conclusions as to the carcinogenic hazard to humans of environmental or occupational exposure to these agents.