Abstract
For the past 50 years, the Monographs Programme of the International Agency for Research on Cancer has been the World Health Organization's encyclopaedia of the preventable causes of human cancer. More than 1035 agents have been evaluated in the Monographs, selected based on evidence of human exposure and of carcinogenicity. These agents comprise chemicals, physical and biological agents (e.g., ionizing radiation; human papilloma virus), complex mixtures (e.g., air pollution), occupational exposure circumstances (e.g., welding fumes), dietary factors (e.g., processed meat), and personal habits (e.g., opium consumption). Expert working groups, free from conflicts of interest, review and synthesize evidence within and across three streams: human cancer, cancer in experimental animals, and carcinogen mechanisms. Evidence from these three streams is synthesized to reach an overall conclusion about whether the agent is carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic, or not classifiable as to its carcinogenity to humans. Recent advances made within this influential Programme include comprehensive incorporation of systematic review principles, explicit consideration of the impact of exposure assessment quality in human cancer and mechanistic studies, and robust methodology for mechanistic evidence evaluation. These advances, as well as nutritionally related priorities for evaluation, will be described in this presentation.
