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Related Experiment Videos

Drinking water and cancer

K P Cantor1

  • 1Occupational Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

Cancer Causes & Control : CCC
|May 1, 1997
PubMed
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Drinking water contaminants like arsenic and disinfection byproducts may be linked to cancer. While evidence is limited, further epidemiologic studies are crucial for public health, especially for contaminants like nitrate.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Epidemiology
  • Public Health
  • Toxicology

Background:

  • Drinking water can contain various contaminants, including disinfection byproducts, metals, volatile organics, and radionuclides.
  • Assessing the carcinogenic risk of these contaminants is challenging due to long latency periods and complex exposure mixtures.
  • Existing epidemiologic evidence on the link between drinking water contaminants and cancer is often limited or inconclusive.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review and synthesize epidemiologic evidence on the relationship between drinking water contaminants and cancer risk.
  • To identify specific contaminants with suggestive associations and areas requiring further investigation.
  • To highlight methodologic challenges in studying drinking water contaminants and cancer.

Main Methods:

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  • Systematic review of ecologic and individual-based epidemiologic studies.
  • Analysis of studies examining exposure to disinfection byproducts, nitrate, arsenic, metals, volatile organics, asbestiform fibers, radionuclides, and fluoride.
  • Consideration of methodologic issues, including exposure assessment and detection of small risk elevations.

Main Results:

  • Consistent, though small, epidemiologic evidence suggests a link between waterborne arsenic and certain cancers.
  • Some evidence indicates a potential association between chlorination byproducts and cancer.
  • Evidence for nitrate, asbestiform fibers, and radionuclides is inconclusive but suggests possible elevated risks in highly exposed populations; fluoride shows no cancer link.

Conclusions:

  • Epidemiologic assessment of drinking water contaminants is valuable and warranted due to potential public health impacts.
  • Arsenic and disinfection byproducts are contaminants of concern requiring further study.
  • Methodologic challenges exist, but ongoing research is essential for understanding and mitigating cancer risks from contaminated drinking water.