Eight Substances Added to 15th Report on Carcinogens
By NIH News Release
The 15th Report on Carcinogens has added eight new substances, bringing the total number of substances to 256 that are known or expected to cause cancer in humans. The cumulative report is mandated by Congress and prepared by the National Toxicology Program for the secretary of HHS. The report lists chronic infection with Helicobacter pylori as a known human carcinogen. The bacterium colonizes in the stomach and can cause peptic ulcers and gastritis. While most people do not show symptoms, chronic infection may lead to stomach cancer and a rare type of stomach lymphoma. Infection primarily occurs from person-to-person contact, but can also occur by drinking contaminated well water. The report also added the flame-retardant chemical antimony trioxide and six haloacetic acids (HAAs) as reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens. HAAs are formed during the disinfection of water from a reaction between chlorine-based disinfection agents and organic matter in the source water. Roughly 250 million U.S. residents use community water systems and are potentially exposed to HAAs in disinfected water. Improvements in disinfection technology, such as filtration methods, can reduce the levels of HAAs in drinking water. The six HAAs cited in report are bromochloroacetic acid, bromodichloroacetic acid, chlorodibromoacetic acid, dibromoacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, and tribromoacetic acid.
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