American Cancer Society calls for better monitoring of exposure to carcinogens

A new report from the American Cancer Society (ACS) calls for honing strategies to monitor people's exposure to cancer-causing chemicals in the environment, including enhancing toxicity testing, enforcing regulatory standards, and lowering the public's exposure when possible. Authors of the report put minimizing exposure to cancer-causing pollutants on the same cancer-prevention playing field as eating right, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight.

"There is reason to be concerned about low-level exposures to carcinogenic pollutants because of the multiplicity of substances, the involuntary nature of many exposures, and the potential that even low-level exposures contribute to the cancer burden when large numbers of people are exposed," write the authors. In the U.S., the lifetime risk of developing or dying from cancer is roughly 1 in 2 for men and 1 in 3 for women, according to the ACS.