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Title: Overview of the risk of respiratory cancer from airborne contaminants

Abstract

This overview on defining risk of respiratory cancer from airborne pollutants summarizes broad issues related to a number of the environmental agents that are discussed in the articles that follow. Lung cancer kills more than 100,000 people annually and is the major form of cancer in both sexes in middle age. Cigarette smoking is the major cause of respiratory cancer and must be taken into account in any study of the effect of an environmental agent on the risk of respiratory cancer, particularly at relatively low levels of excess risk. The agents considered in this series all have the potential for widespread community exposures, either because there is widespread long-term exposure (passive smoking), the agents are direct byproducts of energy consumption (organic particles), have ubiquitous production and use patterns (formaldehyde and fibers), or occur widely in natural settings (radon). Several issues--measurement of exposure, latency, confounding factors and bias, extrapolation from animals to humans, population at risk, and attributable risk--must be considered for each agent. A further issue related to exposure estimates is the relationship of exposure to actual dose. Understanding exposure some 25 to 40 years in the past is important because of the prolonged latency period in the developmentmore » of respiratory cancers. To the degree that these agents act synergistically with smoking, the reduction of smoking or of exposure to these agents may have greater public health consequences than would be anticipated from the directly measured attributable risk of each of these agents separately.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Harvard Univ., Boston, MA
OSTI Identifier:
6785500
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Environ. Health Perspect.; (United States)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Environ. Health Perspect.; (United States)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.; NEOPLASMS; RADIOINDUCTION; RISK ASSESSMENT; POLLUTANTS; CARCINOGENESIS; RESPIRATORY SYSTEM; AIR POLLUTION; ASBESTOS; FORMALDEHYDE; LATENCY PERIOD; PARTICULATES; RADON; REVIEWS; SYNERGISM; TOBACCO SMOKES; AEROSOLS; ALDEHYDES; COLLOIDS; DISEASES; DISPERSIONS; DOCUMENT TYPES; ELEMENTS; FLUIDS; GASES; NONMETALS; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; PARTICLES; PATHOGENESIS; POLLUTION; RARE GASES; RESIDUES; SMOKES; SOLS; 560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology; 560161 - Radionuclide Effects, Kinetics, & Toxicology- Man

Citation Formats

Speizer, F E. Overview of the risk of respiratory cancer from airborne contaminants. United States: N. p., 1986. Web. doi:10.1289/ehp.86709.
Speizer, F E. Overview of the risk of respiratory cancer from airborne contaminants. United States. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.86709
Speizer, F E. 1986. "Overview of the risk of respiratory cancer from airborne contaminants". United States. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.86709.
@article{osti_6785500,
title = {Overview of the risk of respiratory cancer from airborne contaminants},
author = {Speizer, F E},
abstractNote = {This overview on defining risk of respiratory cancer from airborne pollutants summarizes broad issues related to a number of the environmental agents that are discussed in the articles that follow. Lung cancer kills more than 100,000 people annually and is the major form of cancer in both sexes in middle age. Cigarette smoking is the major cause of respiratory cancer and must be taken into account in any study of the effect of an environmental agent on the risk of respiratory cancer, particularly at relatively low levels of excess risk. The agents considered in this series all have the potential for widespread community exposures, either because there is widespread long-term exposure (passive smoking), the agents are direct byproducts of energy consumption (organic particles), have ubiquitous production and use patterns (formaldehyde and fibers), or occur widely in natural settings (radon). Several issues--measurement of exposure, latency, confounding factors and bias, extrapolation from animals to humans, population at risk, and attributable risk--must be considered for each agent. A further issue related to exposure estimates is the relationship of exposure to actual dose. Understanding exposure some 25 to 40 years in the past is important because of the prolonged latency period in the development of respiratory cancers. To the degree that these agents act synergistically with smoking, the reduction of smoking or of exposure to these agents may have greater public health consequences than would be anticipated from the directly measured attributable risk of each of these agents separately.},
doi = {10.1289/ehp.86709},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6785500}, journal = {Environ. Health Perspect.; (United States)},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1986},
month = {Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1986}
}