Choosing priority-setting criteria for carcinogens

• For priority-setting purposes, simple criteria are needed to estimate, provisionally, the inherent properties of potential carcinogens for which adequate data are not available. Expected utility analysis is used to evaluate three such criteria from a decision-theoretic point of view: (1) the species criterion, which assigns lower priority to experimental than to epidemiological carcinogens, (2) the genotoxicity criterion, which prioritizes substances known to be genotoxic, and (3) the potency criterion, which apportions priorities according to carcinogenic potencies that are derived from animal experiments. The outcome of this analysis is favorable to the potency criterion. It is concluded that considerations of potency should have a much more prominent role than what they have in current regulatory practice.

Keyword

carcinogen regulation

regulation

decision theory

priority-setting

carcinogenic potency

TD50

bioassay data

potency

risk

chemicals

humans

animals

cancer

classification

extrapolation

mutagenicity

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)