Errata:listing occupational carcinogens

Siemiatycki et al. have detected some errors in their review of occupational carcinogens published in the November 2004 issue of EHP [Environ Health Perspect 112:1447-1459 (2004)]. Specifically, they inadvertently included in their list of Group 2B (possible) carcinogens some substances that had been downgraded to Group 3 (not classifiable) in a subsequent IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) Monograph. Their corrections are as follows:
Table 5.
Table 8.
On page 1449, 3rd column, « 113 possible human occupational carcinogens (IARC Group 2B; Table 5) » should be replaced by « 110 possible human occupational carcinogens (IARC Group 2B; Table 5). »
On page 1454, Table 5 (under « Respirable dusts and fibers »), glass wool, rock wool, and slag wool fireproofing should not have appeared in the listing of Group 2B human carcinogens because they were downgraded to Group 3 in the latest monograph to address these substances (IARC 2002a); special purpose glass fibers such as E-glass and « 475 » glass fibers are not used in the « Reinforced plastic industry » but rather in « High-efficiency air filtration media and battery separator media » (IARC 2002a). A corrected version of this section of Table 5 is presented below.
On page 1459, Table 8, as a result of the previous corrections, the last section of Table 8 (Current rating 2B) should be modified as follows: the total number of substances with this rating should read 110 instead of 113; the number of substances unrated by IARC in 1987 should read 36 instead of 39; and the number of substances unrated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1964 should read 104 instead of 107. A corrected version of Table 8 is presented below.
Siemiatycki et al.’s review of the IARC Monographs was intended to cover volumes 1-83. With these corrections, the tables and text are complete.

References

IARC. 1987. Overall Evaluations of Carcinogenicity: An Updating of IARC Monographs Volumes 1 to 42. IARC Monogr Eval Carcinog Risk Chem Hum (suppl 7).

IARC. 1997b. Silica, Some Silicates, Coal Dust and Para-aramid Fibrils. IARC Monogr Eval Carcinog Risks Hum 68.

IARC. 2002a. Man-Made Vitreous Fibres. IARC Monogr Eval Carcinog Risks Hum 81.

WHO. 1964. Prevention of Cancer. Report of a WHO Committee. Technical Report Series 276. Geneva:World Health Organization.