[Exposure to carcinogens in work environment today. State of the art, problems and prospects raised by the Law 626/94].

The implementation in our country of recent legislation on carcinogenic risk assessment and management (VIIth title of Law 626/94) is considered. The authors describe potentialities and limits of the new legislation and of the derived Guidelines issued by the Regions. The health policy in this field and possible evolution in the near future are outlined, bearing in mind the experience of other countries. A short list of questions is suggested as a contribution to the discussion on the future scenario: whether exposure to carcinogens should be lower in the working environment than in the general environment; what is the relative importance of multifactoriality, individual biological variability, individual life-style in the genesis of cancers; whether medical health surveillance is worthwhile in terms of primary prevention; is it always true that there is no threshold limit value for carcinogens; what is the role of individual attitudes to prevention in exposure to carcinogens compared to "objective" protection; which balance between costs and benefits should be aimed at.