On June 10, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services added eight substances to its Report on Carcinogens, a science-based document that identifies chemicals and biological agents that may put people at increased risk for cancer.

The industrial chemical formaldehyde and a botanical known as aristolochic acids are listed as known human carcinogens. Six other substances - captafol, cobalt-tungsten carbide (in powder or hard metal form)

Testing the safety of chemicals is becoming more efficient and less reliant on animals thanks to a federal collaboration known as Tox 21. Tox 21 brings together scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NIEHS, the National Toxicology Program (NTP), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and most recently the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to test the safety of chemicals using state-of-the-art robotic technology that will reduce the rel

An NIEHS-led interagency effort identified 11 key categories of diseases and other health consequences of global climate change. As part of an ad hoc interagency working group on climate change and health, NIEHS teamed up with other government and international researchers to address public health concerns and vulnerability related to climate change. Discussions demonstrated that climate change mitigation strategies, in addition to reducing greenhou

Genetic tests are available for the two principal alleles of CYP2C9. Researchers found a null allele of CYP2C9 that decreases metabolism of both warfarin and phenytoin and a second deleterious allele reported in African-Americans on warfarin. Collaborative clinical studies have shown that metabolism of tolbutamide, phenytoin, and warfarin are altered in people with genetic polymorphisms of CYP2C9, affecting dosage requirements and sometimes causing dangerous

The NIEHS Sister Study is a prospective cohort study of how the environment and genes together affect the chance that a woman will get breast cancer and other diseases. The study includes 50,884 women ages 35-74 recruited from every state and Puerto Rico who have never had breast cancer themselves, but who have a sister diagnosed with the disease. The study, which is the largest of its kind, has already reported some preliminary findings ab