Chemicals, cancer, and risk assessment.

Cancer rates in Louisiana in particular, and the United States in general, especially as they relate to exposure to synthetic chemicals, have been a subject of great interest to the general public. Physicians are asked many difficult questions on this subject by their patients. This article provides an objective overview of cancer mortality rates and cancer risk assessment techniques with the intent of assisting physicians in providing knowledgeable responses to these questions. Prominent findings contained in this article include: (1) with the exception of lung cancer, due to consumption of tobacco products, cancer mortality rates are declining; (2) Louisiana ranks 16th among the 50 states in overall cancer mortality; (3) cancer risk assessment techniques used by the United States government are intentionally very conservative and overestimate real cancer risks, particularly for low level exposures; (4) the vast majority of cancers is related to individually controllable lifestyle factors; a small percentage is related to occupational or environmental exposures.