IARC Moves Diesel Engine Exhaust To Group 1
Referencing two articles published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute earlier this year, which examined the same cohort of 12,315 miners and found small though statistically significant increases in lung cancer risk that more or less varied with retrospectively estimated exposures, and the unanimous conclusion of its panel after a week of meetings that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that diesel exhaust probably causes lung cancer, IARC today elevated diesel exhaust to Group 1 status along with asbestos, tobacco, radon, etc. The argument for the move will be published online Friday at Lancet Oncology so we'll hold our thoughts until we've had a chance to read it.
You can read IARC's press release here and find the two articles here and here.
While you wait for Friday's Lancet Oncology ponder the implications of this sentence from the press release - it manages quite nicely to illuminate IARC's philosophy regarding regulations:
There is a strong interplay between standards and technology - standards drive technology and new technology enables more stringent standards.
