Collection

Committee on Carcinogenicity: statements and guidance

Guidance and advice from the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COC).

The terms of reference for the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COC) include generic advice to government departments and regulatory agencies on the risk assessment of carcinogens and associated topics. These documents set out their advice on risk assessment, and experimental methods and analysis.

Older publications are available on the UK Government Web Archive.

Watching briefs

Guidance statements

The COT and COC Synthesis and Integration of Epidemiology and Toxicological Evidence (SETE) Subgroup Report sits alongside the guidance statement series and reviews the approaches to synthesising and integrating epidemiological and toxicological evidence that are used by COT and COC in chemical risk assessments and provides guidance and transparent reflection of how the COT and COC review data and apply expert judgement.

The Synthesising Epidemiology Evidence Subgroup (SEES) Report sits alongside the guidance statement series and provides guidance on how studies of health effects in human populations (human epidemiological studies) can be used to help assess the extent to which a chemical or substance causes cancer.

Statements

Annual reports

COC publishes a joint annual report with the Committee on Toxicity (COT) and the Committee on Mutagenicity (COM).

Updates to this page

Published 1 July 2012
Last updated 3 April 2024 + show all updates
  1. Added the 'Interim position on the safety of hydroxyanthracene derivatives for use in food' document to the guidance section.

  2. Added new group 'Watching briefs'.

  3. Added COT and COC Synthesis and Integration of Epidemiology and Toxicological Evidence (SETE) Subgroup Report.

  4. Added link to Synthesising Epidemiology Evidence Subgroup (SEES) Report.

  5. Added 'Epigenetics in chemical risk assessment: joint committee statement' and 'Less than lifetime exposure: principles for consideration of risk'.

  6. Added 'Possible carcinogenic hazard from IGF-1 in the diet'.

  7. Added statement on alternatives to the 2-year bioassay.

  8. Added statement on consumption of alcoholic beverages and risk of cancer.

  9. Added 'Hazard identification and characterisation: animal carcinogenicity studies' to the collection.

  10. Added guidance statement 05, 2014 to the collection.

  11. First published.