Risks in Perspective

Charles Benbrook (benbrook@hillnet.com)
Wed, 10 Mar 1999 19:23:51 -0800

Dale corrected his post on cancer epidemiology data from Europe,
pointing out that the risk of NHL mortality has increased in Europe from 2.2
to 4.2 per HUNDRED thousand. I only wish to point out that from a public
health perspective, such a finding is regarded as significant. In the U.S.,
chemicals of all sorts are subjected to regulatory restrictions if they
trigger a 1 in 1 million increase in the expected rate of cancer following a
70-year lifetime of exposure, based on a credible animal study and
application of the appropriate cancer risk assessment model.

Increasing the risk of NHL by 2 per hundred thousand is 200 per
million -- 200 times the standard triggering EPA action. No doubt the
increase is caused by many factors, and causality will be horrendously
difficult to sort out, but there is solid scientific evidence supporting the
prediction that reduced exposure to certain pesticides will lower one set of
risk factors for NHL.

chuck

Charles Benbrook 208-263-5236 (voice)
Benbrook Consulting Services 208-263-7342 (fax)
5085 Upper Pack River Road benbrook@hillnet.com [e-mail]
Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 http://www.pmac.net

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