ABSTRACT
The environment plays a key role in determining risk for the majority of chronic diseases worldwide. In the case of cancer, significant risk factors include tobacco, diet, infectious agents, chemicals, and radiation. The place of environmental and genetic factors in the etiopathogenesis of cancer parallels other common chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and neurological disorders and diabetes as well as responses to more acute incidences of toxicity. This chapter focuses on cancer and the principles that are more broadly applicable to studies of environmental epidemiology. Biomarkers of exposure have been measured in a number of different biological media, including urine, feces, saliva, plasma, serum, exfoliated cells, white blood cells, biopsies, and other tissue samples. The chapter draws attention to the advances in measuring individual genetic susceptibility due to the facile application of polymerase chain reaction technology in many laboratories.
