A better characterization of the performance of the CTA to detect non-genotoxic carcinogens was considered important because the data collected in the DRP were biased towards
genotoxic carcinogens, which reflects data available in the public domain.
Often being found in baked, fried or grilled foods, acrylamide is a suspected carcinogen and the UK Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment states that exposure to
genotoxic carcinogens should be as low as reasonably possible.
Genotoxic carcinogens, also known as DNA-reactive carcinogens, interact directly with DNA through the formation of covalent bonds, resulting in DNA-carcinogen complexes.
Published assessment of
genotoxic carcinogens, particularly dietary carcinogens, in mixtures is limited.
The experts also said fires at the works were also a source of
genotoxic carcinogens. Even small exposure to those carried a small risk of causing cancer and the court heard that although the UK and European annual average air quality target for such hydrocarbons was unlikely to have been exceeded, "the additional exposures in local populations carry a small, but likely to be undetectable, increased risk of lung cancer".
The associated
genotoxic carcinogens for several of these cancers, and also heart disease causation, are heterocyclic amines produced during the broiling and frying of creatinine containing foods such as meats.
From there, specific types of dose--response relationship, such as the sometimes controversial hormesis mechanism and always controversial biological thresholds for
genotoxic carcinogens, are discussed, thereby supplementing the understanding of these latter critical concepts.
However, in the present study, which was shorter term and used a lower dose, we found no change in oxidative DNA-damage-related gene expression, nor did we find a gene expression profile characteristic of a range of
genotoxic carcinogens, such as described by Ellinger-Ziegelbauer et al.
"At least," he says, "there is a contrast with tobacco smoke, where
genotoxic carcinogens are clearly present and involved along with other types of effects, and carcinogen-DNA adducts have been observed in the breast tissue of exposed women."