From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Mon Sep 09 2002 - 13:26:21 MDT
rememberme@rn.com wrote:
PCP, pentachlorphenol (pentachlorophenol for English speakers) has been
forbidden in Germany since 1989 as it was shown to cause cancer.
### I quote from http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts51.html:
How likely is pentachlorophenol to cause cancer?
Some studies have found an increase in cancer risk in workers exposed to
high levels of technical grade pentachlorophenol for a long time, but other
studies have not found this. Increases in liver, adrenal gland, and nasal
tumors have been found in laboratory animals exposed to high doses of
pentachlorophenol.
The EPA has determined that pentachlorophenol is a probable human carcinogen
and the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) considers it
possibly carcinogenic to humans.
<end quote>
This kind of data is essentially worthless. The maximum allowed (so called
"toxic") levels in food are derived by applying a three order of magnitude
correction factor to assumptions based on linear extrapolations of dose-risk
relationships in lab animals. That is a three-times removed cousin of truth,
at best, a guess from a guess from a guess.
Don't worry about PCP in your tea, and don't waste money on organic
produce - at least the regular variety is less likely to be contaminated by
mold carcinogens (which were actually proven to cause cancer in humans, not
just guessed at).
Rafal
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