TCE, Designated a Known Carcinogen, Now the Focus of Ongoing Research

Extract

Late last year, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined that trichloroethylene (TCE) was carcinogenic to humans, upgrading it from a probable to a known carcinogen.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently came to the same conclusion. Its evaluation of TCE in 2011 concluded for the first time that TCE was “carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure.”

And a third key organization, the National Institutes of Health National Toxicology Program, is evaluating whether TCE should be upgraded from its 2000 designation, reasonably expected to be a human carcinogen, to known human carcinogen.

Coming after decades of study, the three actions could seem a collective milestone for the field. But viewing them as part of a process far from over may be more realistic.

“They are important steps, but steps on a continuum,” said Aaron Blair, Ph.D., a scientist emeritus at the National Cancer Institute, who chaired the IARC committee on TCE. They represent decades of research that established strong links between occupational exposures and kidney cancer and possible links to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and liver and other cancers. But much more is left to learn.