Epidemiologic studies show an increase in the incidence of pancreatic carcinoma and suggest that this increase may result, at least in part, from increased exposure to chemical carcinogens. Little information is available concerning the uptake of such agents or their effects on the pancreas. For these studies a well-recognized and commonly studied chemical carcinogen, 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC), was injected intraperitoneally into rats to determine to what extent rat pancreas sequesters and metabolizes this drug. The carcinogen was taken up in the pancreas to the same degree as the liver on a per gram wet weight basis. The majority of binding was to the membranous components with only 17% remaining in the supernatant fraction. Maximal incorporation occurred around 36 hours following administration. Ether extracts of homogenates revealed that few breakdown products were formed even up to 48 hours after injection. It appears that rat pancreas sequesters 3-MC but has little metabolizing capacity.