The National Toxicology Program announced today it plans to review three viruses, three forms of radiation, two substances formed in cooking, and a variety of industrial exposures for possible listing in the eleventh edition of the federal Report on Carcinogens, which will be published in 2004.

The NTP, which is headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, prepares such a report every two years. The report is mandated by Congress to help assure that substances or conditions that are likely to cause cancer are properly recognized by the public and regulatory agencies. Substances may be listed as "known" or as "reasonably anticipated" human carcinogens.

The NTP's announcement of its plans, which was published in the Federal Register, asks the public and scientists to comment during the next 60 days on the nominations and to provide any data on whether they are carcinogenic, how much is produced, how they are used and in what ways people are exposed. The 16 nominations for NTP's planned review are:

• 1-Amino-2,4-dibromoanthraquinone, a vat dye used in the textile industry.
• 2-Amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (or MeIQ), a substance formed in food during heating or cooking and found in cooked meat and fish.
• Cobalt Sulfate, which is used in electroplating and electrochemical industries, as a coloring agent for ceramics, as a drying agent in inks, paints, varnishes and linoleum and as a mineral supplement in animal feed.
• Diazoaminobenzene (DAAB), which is used to promote adhesion of natural rubber to steel, as a polymer additive and an intermediate in the production of a number of pesticides, dyes and other industrial chemicals.
• Diethanolamine (DEA), which is used in prepari
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