Neurotoxic substances also posing a cancer risk: a warning.

A large proportion of compounds studied for their neurotoxic potential are at the same time suspected or proven carcinogens. This is demonstrated using the International Neurotoxicology Association (INA) Professional Interest Directory and publications from the field of neurotoxicology as examples. In addition to listing these compounds, the classification scheme used by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the Commission of the European Communities (EC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the German MAK-Commission of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DGF) and the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to make qualitative risk assessments is explained. Finally, a short initiation to quantitative risk assessment as performed by the US EPA and the World Health Organization (WHO) is given in order to put the reader into a position as to assess the cancer risk incurred by his/her co-workers and by himself.