Abstract
BOYLAND1 has suggested that 90% of cancer in man is caused by chemicals, either endogenous or environmental. The association of human cancer with hydrocarbons dates from Percival Pott's description of chimney sweeps' cancer in 1775, greatly reinforced by the isolation 150 yr later of benzo(a)pyrene from coal tar by Kennaway2 and his associates3. Although there are probably many unidentified carcinogens in soot and coal tar, the correlation between the experimental production of cancer in animals with pure hydrocarbons and the incidence of cutaneous cancer in people exposed to tar, pitch, soot, oil and similar industrial products4 is suggestive. It is much more difficult to assess the relevance of hydrocarbons to human cancer at other sites, and, in particular, their role in the induction of lung cancer remains unresolved.
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BROOKES, P., DUNCAN, M. Carcinogenic Hydrocarbons and Human Cells in Culture. Nature 234, 40–43 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/234040a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/234040a0
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