Threat by chemical substances: Legislation, production, use and waste - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 56

credible, but those alternative explanations, such as chance, bias or confounding
factors, could not adequately be excluded;
◦

2a. There is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies in experimental
animals, which indicates that there is an increased incidence of malignant
and/or a combination of malignant and benign tumors (i) in multiple species
or at multiple tissue sites; or (ii) by multiple routes of exposure; or (iii) to an
unusual degree with regard to incidence, site or type of tumor or age at onset;

◦ 2b. There is less than sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans or

laboratory animals; however, the agent, substance or mixture belongs to a
well-defined, structurally related class of substances whose members are listed
in a previous RoCs as either known to be a human carcinogen or reasonably
anticipated to be a human carcinogen, or there is convincing relevant informa-
tion that the agent acts through mechanisms indicating it would likely cause
cancer in humans.

Some typical known carcinogenic chemical substances, groups of substances and
mixtures are listed here, as examples, without attempting to be comprehensive. A
complete and updated list of carcinogenic substances can be found e.g. on the website
of the American Cancer Society (ACS List, 2013).

- Acetaldehyde (in alcoholic beverages) - Formaldehyde

- Aflatoxins - Gallium arsenide

- Arsenic and arsenic compounds - Melphalan

- Asbestos - 8-Methoxypsoralen plus UV radiation

- Benzene - Methylene-bis(chloroaniline)

- Benzidine - Mustard gas

- Benzo[a]pyrene - 2-Naphthylamine

- Beryllium and beryllium compounds - Nickel compounds

- N -Nitrosonornicotine - Chlornaphazine

- 1,3-Butadiene - 4-(N-nitrosomethylamino)-1-

- 1,4-Butanediol dimethanesulfonate (3-pyridyl)-1-butanone

- Cadmium and cadmium compounds - Phosphorus-32, as phosphate

- Chlorambucil - Plutonium-239 and its decay products

- 1-(2-Chloroethyl)-3-(4- radioiodines, radionuclides

methylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea - Radium-224, 226, 228 and its

- Chromium[VI] decay products

- Cyclosporin - Radon-222 and its decay products

- Cyclophosphamide - Silica, crystalline (occupational

- Diethylstilbestrol (DES) inhalation in the form of quartz or

- Dyes metabolized to benzidine cristobalite sources)

- Estrogen-progestogen - Talc containing asbestiform fibers

menopausal therapy - 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

- Estrogen-progestogen oral - Thiotepa

contraceptives - Thorium-232 and its decay products

- Estrogens - o-Toluidine

- Ethanol in alcoholic beverages - Vinyl chloride

- Ethylene oxide