8 'New' Cancer Causes

There are now eight new substances on the official U.S. list of toxins known to cause or suspected of causing cancer.

There are now 240 agents on the list, maintained by the National Toxicology Program (NTP). The NTP lists agents in two categories: those known to cause cancer, and those expected to be added to the "known carcinogen" list once there's more scientific evidence.

It's not possible to totally avoid exposure to carcinogens, says John Bucher, PhD, associate director of the NTP, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

"We are exposed to small levels of carcinogens every day: in drugs, in chemicals, in sunlight, in tanning beds, in tobacco smoke, over and over every day," Bucher said at a news teleconference. "This report is just to allow people to have the information they need to make choices every day. Simply avoid using products containing these substances if you are uncomfortable with the risk."

Most of the known risk comes from industrial exposures to workers at manufacturing plants. It's not clear how much risk, if any, comes from the many consumer products that emit small amounts of these carcinogens.

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Bucher says he's not worried about his own daily exposures. "I probably won't be making many changes," he said.

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