Toxicological procedures for assessing the carcinogenic potential of agricultural chemicals

Pesticides and other agricultural chemicals are now widely used throughout the world as a means of improving crop yields in order to meet the increasing demands being placed upon the global food supply. In Canada, the use of such chemicals is controlled through government regulations established jointly by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of National Health & Welfare. Such regulations require a detailed evaluation of the toxicological characteristics of the chemical prior to its being cleared for use. In this paper, procedures for assessing the carcinogenic potential of agricultural and other chemicals are discussed. Consideration is given to both the classical long-term in vivo carcinogen bioassay in rodent or other species and the more recently developed short-term in vitro tests based on genetic alterations in bacterial and other test systems.