Environmental causes of cancer death

People increasingly look to the forensic autopsy as a way of determining whether a particular cancer death was environmentally caused. The forensic pathologist must be diligent pursuing evidence that links potential environmental causes to cancer but must also educate the public providing reassurance that most cancers are not due to industrial pollution. Cigarette smoking and various life-style factors appear to account for more cancers than do man-made environmental contaminants. Assessing the possibility that a cancer death is due to a specific environmental agent requires extensive information. First, one must obtain an accurate history of lifetime occupational and environmental exposures. Second, one must analyze this information in view of epidemiologic data on the cancer risks associated with each exposure. Finally, one should seek to document through the autopsy that exposure to a potentially harmful agent actually occurred. The carefully done forensic autopsy can alert the public to dangerous conditions and can provide individuals a basis for recovery in court for damages due to harmful exposures.