Scientific bases of environmental carcinogenesis and cancer prevention: Developing an interdisciplinary science and facing its ethical implications

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Abstract
Two distinct types of toxic effects are defined: (1) terminal toxic effects, characterized by early appearance, direct correlation of the intensity of induced pathology with the intensity of exposure, and manifestation of toxicity due to altered functional products, degeneration, or death of the target cells themselves, and (2) self‐replicating toxic effects, characterized by delayed appearance, direct correlation of the frequency of induced pathology with the intensity of exposure, independence of the intensity of induced pathology from the intensity of exposure, and manifestation of toxicity due to proliferation of a new altered cell population. Traditional toxicology deals with terminal effects, but is inadequate to deal with self‐replicating effects, for which a new toxicology is developing. New knowledge of cellular and molecular mechanisms of self‐replicating toxicity has revolutionary implications for the evaluation of environmental toxicology. The mechanisms of carcinogenesis represent an example at the somatic cell level of the general theory of biological evolution by chance events followed by the necessity of biological expression as outlined by Monod in 1970. The implications of modern biological knowledge were developed by Monod into the ethic of knowledge. The scientific method, based on the postulate of objectivity, rejects any confusion between knowledge and “values.” In toxicology, value judgment on societal consequences of discovering chemicobiological interactions should absolutely not interfere with the objective pursuit of scientific evidence. The relationship between etiology and ethics demands high professional and ethical standards, comparable to those accepted in forensic medicine. High quality standards of scientific methodology, provisions to avoid any conflict of interest, and the establishment of licensed laboratories are recommended.

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