QUANTITATIVE CANCER ASSESSMENT FOR VINYL-CHLORIDE - INDICATIONS OF EARLY-LIFE SENSITIVITY

Complementary sources of information are analyzed to characterize the early-life cancer risk from inhaling vinyl chloride. A study of partia l-lifetime exposures suggests that the lifetime cancer risk depends on age at exposure, with higher lifetime risks attributable to exposures at younger ages, Studies of newborn animal exposures further demonstr ate that a brief exposure in newborns can, by the end of life, induce a higher incidence of tumors compared to long-term exposure occurring later in life, including tumor types not induced by exposure later in life, An empirical, quantitative approach is used to model early-life sensitivity to inhaled vinyl chloride, supplementing conventional appr oaches for estimating the increased cancer risk from lifetime exposure , A single estimate is not presumed to apply to the entire population; instead, the new approach makes distinctions about the cancer risks f or different population segments, This assessment shows one way such i nformation might be analyzed, presented, and used to assess actual exp osure situations.