| Dioxin Revisited: Developments Since the 1997 IARC Classification of Dioxin as a Human Carcinogen Kyle Steenland,1 Pier Bertazzi,2 Andrea Baccarelli,2 and Manolis Kogevinas3 1Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 2Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, EPOCA Research Center for Occupational, Clinical, and Environmental Epidemiology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; 3Respiratory and Environmental Health Research Unit, Municipal Institute of Medical Research, Barcelona, Spain
Abstract
In 1997 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD ; the most potent dioxin congener) as a group 1 carcinogen based on limited evidence in humans, sufficient evidence in experimental animals, and extensive mechanistic information indicating that TCDD acts through a mechanism involving the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) , which is present in both humans and animals. The judgment of limited evidence in humans was based primarily on an elevation of all cancers combined in four industrial cohorts. The group 1 classification has been somewhat controversial and has been challenged in the literature in recent years. In this article we review the epidemiologic and mechanistic evidence that has emerged since 1997. New epidemiologic evidence consists primarily of positive exposure-response analyses in several of the industrial cohorts, as well as evidence of excesses of several specific cancers in the Seveso accident cohort. There are also new data regarding how the AhR functions in mediating the carcinogenic response to TCDD. The new evidence generally supports the 1997 IARC classification. Key words: carcinogen, dioxin, TCDD. Environ Health Perspect 112:1265-1268 (2004) . doi:10.1289/ehp.7219 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 10 June 2004]
Address correspondence to K. Steenland, 1518 Clifton Rd., Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30306 USA. Telephone: (404) 712-8277. Fax: (404) 727-8744. E-mail: nsteenl@sph.emory.edu The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 30 April 2004 ; accepted 10 June 2004.
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