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Can IARC enforce regulations based on these classifications

Posted Date:2025/5/13

How are these classifications used? Can IARC enforce regulations based on these classifications?

IARC is a research organization that evaluates the evidence on the causes of cancer but does not make health recommendations. Health and regulatory agencies include IARC evaluations in their consideration of actions to prevent exposure to potential carcinogens. IARC does not recommend regulations, legislation, or public health interventions, which remain the responsibility of individual governments and other international organizations.

What does the classification mean in terms of risk?

The classification indicates the strength of the evidence that a substance or agent can cause cancer. The IARC Monographs Programme seeks to identify agents that are cancer hazards, meaning they pose the potential for the exposure to cause cancer. However, the classification does not indicate the level of risk associated with a given level or circumstance of exposure. The cancer risk associated with substances or agents assigned the same classification may be very different, depending on factors such as the type and extent of exposure and the degree of the effect of the agent at a given level of exposure.

What is the difference between risk and hazard?

The IARC Monographs Programme identifies cancer hazards but does not evaluate the risks

associated with specific levels or circumstances of exposure.

The distinction between hazard and risk is important. An agent is considered a cancer hazard if it is capable of causing cancer under some circumstances. Risk measures the probability that cancer will occur, taking into account the level of exposure to the agent. The IARC Monographs Programme may identify cancer hazards even when risks are very low with known patterns of use or exposure. Recognition of such carcinogenic hazards is important because new uses or unforeseen exposures could lead to risks that are much higher than those currently seen.