European Community research on environmental mutagenesis and carcinogenesis

Within the 12 Member States of the European Community (EC), environmental policy is now formulated primarily at Community level. As a result, the EC has important regulatory responsibilities for the protection of workers, consumers, and the general public from risks that may arise from environmental chemicals, foremost among them potential carcinogens and mutagens. An important part of EC environmental research and development is intended to provide a scientific basis for these regulations as well as increasing understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in environmental carcinogenesis and mutagenesis. This paper contains a brief introduction to EC environment policy and research, followed by an overview of EC chemicals control activities that are of particular relevance to the research and development program. Community-level research on environmental mutagenesis and carcinogenesis is then reviewed in some detail, including the achievements of recent projects, the scientific content of the current program, and perspectives for the future.