The fact that several environmental chemicals can cause cancer has fostered the idea that industrial pollution is a frequent cause of cancer. However, the frequency of most human cancers (adjusted for age) has remained relatively constant over the past half-century, in spite of increasing industrial pollution. So, in spite of evidence that industrial chemicals can cause cancer in people who work with them or in people who live nearby, industrial pollution does not appear to be a major cause of most cancers in the population at large.

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