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In February 2013, 26 experts from 12 countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France, to reassess the carcinogenicity of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs). These assessments will be published as volume 107 of the IARC Monographs. 1 PCBs are a class of aromatic compounds comprising 209 congeners, each containing one to ten chlorine atoms attached to a biphenyl nucleus. Technical PCB products, which were manufactured to obtain a specific level of chlorination, are mixtures of many PCB congeners. These products were widely used as dielectric fluid in capacitors and transformers, and to a lesser extent in building materials (eg, caulking, paints, and lighting ballasts). PCB production and new use were banned in most countries by the 1980s, but production has been reported recently in North Korea. Earlier, occupational exposure was highest during manufacture of PCBs, transformers, and capacitors; today, exposure can come from demolition, dysfunction, or un controlled recycling of PCB-contaminated structures and equip ment. PCBs are persistent and bioaccumulate; they have become ubiquitous environmental pollutants, including in polar regions and the deep ocean. Because of weathering and biotransformation, the PCB profiles noted in the environment or during biomonitoring differ from those of the commercial products. The general population is exposed mainly via food, mostly from contaminated animal fats; two major episodes of food poisoning took place in Japan and Taiwan, China, where cooking oil was accidentally contaminated with PCBs …