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Cover of Some Naturally Occurring Substances

Some Naturally Occurring Substances

Food Items and Constituents, Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines and Mycotoxins

IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, No. 56

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Evaluates the carcinogenic risk to humans posed by the ingestion of several naturally occurring substances. Separate monographs are presented for two food items (salted fish and pickled vegetables), two naturally occurring plant substances (caffeic acid and d-limonene), four heterocyclic aromatic amines found in cooked meat and fish, and selected mycotoxins, including aflatoxins.

The monograph on salted fish concentrates on fish as traditionally prepared in southern China, where very high rates of nasopharyngeal carcinoma have been linked to the consumption of salted fish prepared in a manner which involves putrefaction. The monograph concludes that Chinese-style salted fish is carcinogenic to humans. The second monograph concludes that pickled vegetables, prepared according to traditional Asian methods, are possibly carcinogenic to humans. Caffeic acid was judged to be possibly carcinogenic to humans. The report was unable to classify the carcinogenicity of d-limonene. For the heterocyclic aromatic amines present in cooked meat and fish, IQ was classified as probably carcinogenic to humans; MeIQ, MeIQx, and PhIP were classified as possibly carcinogenic.

The most extensive monograph, on aflatoxins, concludes that naturally occurring mixtures of aflatoxins are carcinogenic to humans and that aflatoxin M1 occurring in milk is possibly carcinogenic. Toxins derived from Fusarium moniliforme and ochratoxin A, which has been linked to Balkan endemic nephropathy, were classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans. The remaining mycotoxins could not be classified.

Contents

Corrigenda to the IARC Monographs are published online at http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Publications/corrigenda.php.

Corrigenda to Volume 56. (PDF, 35K)

LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA

This publication represents the views and expert opinions of an IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, which met in Lyon, 9–16 June 1992

Lyon, France - 1993

IARC MONOGRAPHS

In 1969, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) initiated a programme on the evaluation of the carcinogenic risk of chemicals to humans involving the production of critically evaluated monographs on individual chemicals. In 1980 and 1986, the programme was expanded to include the evaluation of the carcinogenic risk associated with exposures to complex mixtures and other agents.

The objective of the programme is to elaborate and publish in the form of monographs critical reviews of data on carcinogenicity for agents to which humans are known to be exposed, and on specific exposure situations; to evaluate these data in terms of human risk with the help of international working groups of experts in chemical carcinogenesis and related fields; and to indicate where additional research efforts are needed.

This project is supported by PHS Grant No. 5-UO1 CA33193-11 awarded by the US National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services. Additional support has been provided since 1986 by the Commission of the European Communities.

  • ©International Agency for Research on Cancer 1993
  • ISBN 92 832 1256-8
  • ISSN 0250-9555
  • Publications of the World Health Organization enjoy copyright protection in accordance with the provisions of Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights reserved. Application for rights of reproduction or translation, in part or in toto, should be made to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
  • Distributed for the International Agency for Research on Cancer by the Secretariat of the World Health Organization
  • PRINTED IN THE UK
©International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1993.
Bookshelf ID: NBK513574

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