The World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer agency last week classified talc as “probably carcinogenic” for humans, however an outside expert warned against misinterpreting the announcement as a “smoking gun”.
The decision was based on “limited evidence” talc could cause ovarian cancer in humans, “sufficient evidence” it was linked to cancer in rats and “strong mechanistic evidence” that it shows carcinogenic signs in human cells, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said.
