Styrene industry opposes 'unwarranted' carcinogen listing

ERJ staff report (DS)

Arlington, Virginia -- Styrene Information and Research Center (SIRC), Executive Director Jack Snyder, has responded to the US Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) listing on June 10, 2011 of styrene in its 12th Report on Carcinogens (RoC) as a substance that is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” HHS publishes the RoC under congressional mandate.

“HHS included styrene in the 12th RoC despite the fact that European Union regulators have determined that styrene does not represent a human cancer concern. E.U. scientists reviewed the full styrene database, weighing all of the available data in reaching their conclusion.

“New science that has emerged since the E.U.'s 2007 Risk Assessment Report points even further away from a cancer concern. The peer-reviewed Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in 2009 published a comprehensive review2 showing that the 'available evidence does not support a causal relationship between styrene exposure and any type of human cancer.'

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Press release from SIRC