Correlation between carcinogenic potency of chemicals in animals and humans.

Twenty-three chemicals were selected for comparison of the carcinogenic potencies estimated from epidemiological data to those estimated from animal carcinogenesis bioassays. The chemicals were all those for which reasonably strong evidence of carcinogenicity could be found in humans or animals and for which suitable data could be obtained for quantifying carcinogenic potencies in both humans and animals. Many alternative methods of analyzing the bioassay data were investigated. Almost all of the methods yielded potency estimates that were highly correlated with potencies estimated from epidemiological data; correlations were highly statistically significant (p less than 0.001), with the corresponding correlation coefficients ranging as high as 0.9. These findings provide support for the general use of animal data to evaluate carcinogenic potential in humans and also for the use of animal data to quantify human risk.