The importance and challenge of carcinogenic air pollutants for health risk and impact assessment

Abstract

Abstract Along the years, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified many air pollutants components as carcinogens, including solvents, diesel engine exhaust, metals, such as chromium, nickel, arsenic, and cadmium. The IARC list of Group 1 carcinogens includes benzene, diesel exhaust, benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon [PAH]), indoor emissions from coal combustion, and 1,3-buta-diene. Sources, mainly combustion-related, that emit airborne carcinogens can be both in indoor and outdoor. In 2013, the IARC has classified outdoor air pollution and one of its major components, particulate matter (PM), as carcinogenic. In its evaluation, the IARC suggested sufficient evidence showing that exposure to outdoor air pollution and PM causes lung cancer and it noted that a positive association between such pollution and an increased risk of bladder cancer. The association between exposure to air pollutant and cancer risk has been investigated in cohort studies and the results are generally consistent, indicating that long-term exposure to air pollution can cause lung cancer and increase risks of cancer in other locations. The use of the information on carcinogenicity is fundamental to produce estimates to quantify risks and impacts on exposed population. WHO in several recent activities has addressed this issue. For example, it is also under consideration by various experts in the framework of the Task Force for Health (TFH) of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. The discussion of this session will focus on the implications and the challenges to integrate toxicological and epidemiological evidence of identified air carcinogens in health in risk and impact assessment.