The 116 things that can give you cancer
The International Agency for Research on Cancer – a body that collects and publishes cancer figures worldwide – has a list of the 116 substances and activities that are now considered to cause cancer. Many of these are occupationally related. Our law firm has handled many cases where these carcinogens were a factor in their illness.
Carcinogenic exposure circumstances
1 Tobacco smoking:
2 Sunlamps and sunbeds:
3 Aluminium production:
4 Arsenic in drinking water:
5 Auramine production:
6 Boot and shoe manufacture and repair:
7 Chimney sweeping:
8 Coal gasification:
9 Coal tar distillation:
10 Coke (fuel) production:
11 Furniture and cabinet making:
12 Haematite mining (underground) with exposure to radon:
13 Secondhand smoke:
14 Iron and steel founding:
15 Isopropanol manufacture (strong-acid process):
16 Magenta dye manufacturing:
17 Occupational exposure as a painter:
18 Paving and roofing with coal-tar pitch:
19 Rubber industry:
20 Occupational exposure of strong inorganic acid mists containing sulphuric acid:
21 Naturally occurring mixtures of aflatoxins:
22 Alcoholic beverages:
23 Areca nut:
24 Betel quid without tobacco:
25 Betel quid with tobacco:
26 Coal-tar pitches:
27 Coal tars:
28 Indoor emissions from household combustion of coal:
29 Diesel exhaust:
30 Mineral oils, untreated and mildly treated:
31 Phenacetin, analgesic mixtures containing:
33 Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs):
34 Chinese-style salted fish:
35 Shale oils:
36 Soots:
37 Smokeless tobacco products:
38 Wood dust:
39 Processed meat:
40 Acetaldehyde
41 4-Aminobiphenyl
42 Aristolochic acids and plants containing them
43 Arsenic and arsenic compounds
44 Asbestos
45 Azathioprine
46 Benzene
47 Benzidine
48 Benzo[a]pyrene
49 Beryllium and beryllium compounds
50 Chlornapazine (N,N-Bis(2-chloroethyl)-2-naphthylamine)
51 Bis(chloromethyl)ether
52 Chloromethyl methyl ether
53 1,3-Butadiene
54 1,4-Butanediol dimethanesulfonate (Busulphan, Myleran)
55 Cadmium and cadmium compounds
56 Chlorambucil
57 Methyl-CCNU (1-(2-Chloroethyl)-3-(4-methylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea; Semustine)
58 Chromium(VI) compounds
59 Ciclosporin
60 Contraceptives, hormonal, combined forms (those containing both oestrogen and a progestogen)
61 Contraceptives, oral, sequential forms of hormonal contraception (a period of oestrogen-only followed by a period of both oestrogen and a progestogen)
62 Cyclophosphamide
63 Diethylstilboestrol
64 Dyes metabolized to benzidine
65 Epstein-Barr virus
66 Oestrogens, nonsteroidal
67 Oestrogens, steroidal
68 Oestrogen therapy, postmenopausal
69 Ethanol in alcoholic beverages
70 Erionite
71 Ethylene oxide
72 Etoposide alone and in combination with cisplatin and bleomycin
73 Formaldehyde
74 Gallium arsenide
75 Helicobacter pylori (infection with)
76 Hepatitis B virus (chronic infection with)
77 Hepatitis C virus (chronic infection with)
78 Herbal remedies containing plant species of the genus Aristolochia
79 Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (infection with)
80 Human papillomavirus type 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59 and 66
81 Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-I
82 Melphalan
83 Methoxsalen (8-Methoxypsoralen) plus ultraviolet A-radiation
84 4,4’-methylene-bis(2-chloroaniline) (MOCA)
85 MOPP and other combined chemotherapy including alkylating agents
86 Mustard gas (sulphur mustard)
87 2-Naphthylamine
88 Neutron radiation
89 Nickel compounds
90 4-(N-Nitrosomethylamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK)
91 N-Nitrosonornicotine (NNN)
92 Opisthorchis viverrini (infection with)
93 Outdoor air pollution
94 Particulate matter in outdoor air pollution
95 Phosphorus-32, as phosphate
96 Plutonium-239 and its decay products (may contain plutonium-240 and other isotopes), as aerosols
97 Radioiodines, short-lived isotopes, including iodine-131, from atomic reactor accidents and nuclear weapons detonation (exposure during childhood)
98 Radionuclides, α-particle-emitting, internally deposited
99 Radionuclides, β-particle-emitting, internally deposited
100 Radium-224 and its decay products
101 Radium-226 and its decay products
102 Radium-228 and its decay products
103 Radon-222 and its decay products
104 Schistosoma haematobium (infection with)
105 Silica, crystalline (inhaled in the form of quartz or cristobalite from occupational sources)
106 Solar radiation
107 Talc containing asbestiform fibres
108 Tamoxifen
109 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin
110 Thiotepa (1,1’,1”-phosphinothioylidynetrisaziridine)
111 Thorium-232 and its decay products, administered intravenously as a colloidal dispersion of thorium-232 dioxide
112 Treosulfan
113 Ortho-toluidine
114 Vinyl chloride
115 Ultraviolet radiation
116 X-radiation and gamma radiation
At Schmidt-Salita Law Team we discuss your employment history and have significant cases where our clients were diagnosed with Cancer as a result of many of these listed exposures. We pursue claims and lawsuits against those employers, mining companies, manufacturers and third parties for medical care, lost earnings, the victim’s pain and suffering, or the survivors’ losses. Please contact us at
Phone: 952-473-4530
Toll Free: 1-800-656-8450
Fax: 952-544-1308
Email: info@mnlawteam.com