IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans

This volume of the IARC Monographs provides a reassessment of the carcinogenicity of carbon black, titanium dioxide, and talc. All of these agents are poorly soluble particles that are weakly toxic, and were chosen for assessment because evidence suggests that they cause cancer in the respiratory tract of rats through mechanisms similar to those that are operative in people who work in dusty environments (eg. coal mines). An IARC Monographs Working Group reviewed epidemiological evidence, animal bioassays, and mechanistic and other relevant data to reach conclusions as to the carcinogenic hazard of these particles upon inhalation by humans.