Identifying Differences in U.S. Exposures to Ubiquitous Carcinogens

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, and substantial racial-, ethnicity-, sex-, and income-based differences in cancer incidence and mortality persist despite declining overall trends. Underlying differences in exposure to carcinogenic chemicals are often cited as a likely factor contributing to persistent differences in the incidence of certain cancer types. In this exploratory analysis, we construct a novel database of actual or potential exposure to ubiquitous carcinogenic chemicals based on nationally-representative biomonitoring and environmental data to produce demographically differentiated exposure statistics, where possible. Despite major data gaps - one or more measures of direct or indirect exposure were available for only 37% of these 622 carcinogens - our results show evidence of potential exposure disparities for at least 28 carcinogens. We also review readily-available information on exposure pathways and cancer types associated with these carcinogens to identify common pathways through which households may be exposed, and explore correlations between relative exposure levels and cancer incidence rates. We end the paper with a discussion of key data gaps and limitations that future data gathering and investigation could address.