Limitations of epidemiology in assessing cancer risk from environmental sources

There is much discussion on how to define an "acceptable risk" for a population typically exposed to low doses of environmental carcinogens. One proposal claims that all risks which are not "observable" should be considered acceptable (e.g. BYRD/LAVE 1987). It is demonstrated for example in cancer deaths due to environmental carcinogens that, for methodological reasons the acceptance of this criterion means the toleration of considerable health risks for society. From a preventive point of view methods of extrapolation seem to be more appropriate to handle "living with the uncertainty".