Response to letter to the editor by Cohen et al. (2014) "Re: Waalkes et al.: Lung tumors in mice induced by "whole-life" inorganic arsenic exposure at human-relevant doses, Arch Toxicol, 2014".

Abstract

We appreciate the interest of Cohen et al. (2014) in our recent research on inorganic arsenic carcinogenesis in mice after whole-life exposure (Waalkes et al., 2014). However, we strongly disagree with their conclusion that this study does not show an arsenic-related lung tumor response because of comparison to historical controls in CD1 mice (Cohen et al., 2014). Cohen et al. (2014) assert this lack of an association despite the facts that our study includes fully satisfactory concurrent male and female control groups that show lung tumor rates equivalent to historical controls and that specific treatment groups show robust differences in lung tumor incidences when compared in a statistically appropriate fashion to these concurrent controls.