Summary report on the evaluation of short-term tests for carcinogens (‎collaborative study on in vivo tests)

Overview

For many years it has been known that some environmental chemicals are associated with an increased incidence of cancer in humans. The danger posed by exposure to established human carcinogens such as ß-naphthylamine and vinyl chloride was originally recognized from epidemiological evidence. The main purpose of investigating chemical carcinogenesis, however, is to prevent environmentally induced cancer by identifying such chemicals before they are released into the environment.

Over the past two or three decades, carcinogenic activity has usually been determined by the ability of a chemical to produce tumours in laboratory animals during lifetime exposure to the chemical. Long-term animal studies of this kind may last for two or three years and utilize scarce resources and expertise. In consequence, it is only feasible to test a very small proportion of the new chemicals produced each year in animal bioassays.