Is the Human Carcinogen Arsenic Carcinogenic to Laboratory Animals?

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Arsenic has long been known to cause cancer in humans (Hutchinson, 1987, 1988), and has been correlated convincingly with cancers of the skin, lung, liver, kidney, and urinary bladder (IARC, 1987; NTP, 2000). Paradoxically, we now know that arsenic has been shown to be “anticarcinogenic” as well, and of potential benefit in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (Zhu et al., 1999). Whereas this is a major cancer chemotherapeutic advance, we believe use of arsenicals in human medicine must be tempered by toxicological realities (Huang et al., 1998; Huff et al., 1999). Nonetheless, most if not all cancer chemotherapeutic agents are carcinogenic to animals, and cause eventual second primaries in humans.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: