Benzo(a)pyrene (BP), 2-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene (2-HOBP), and 6-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene (6-HOBP) were tested for tumorigenicity by i.p. injection into newborn mice. The mice were treated sequentially with 200, 400, and 800 nmol of compound on the first, eighth and fifteenth day of life, and the animals were killed at 24 weeks of age. Treatment with 2-HOBP caused about 4-fold more pulmonary tumors than BP, while 6-HOBP had little or no tumorigenic activity. Newborn mice treated with 2-HOBP, BP, and 6-HOBP had a 98, 81, and 11% incidence of pulmonary adenomas with an average of 24, 6.4, and 0.11 adenomas per mouse, respectively. In the control group, 7.5% of the animals had pulmonary adenomas with an average of 0.08 adenoma per mouse. When 25, 50, or 100 nmol of BP or 2-HOBP was applied to mouse skin once every 2 weeks for 60 weeks, both compounds had about the same carcinogenic activity. These results demonstrate the importance of evaluating the carcinogenic potential of chemicals in more than one tumor system. BP and 2-HOBP were tested for mutagenicity towards two strains of Salmonella typhimurium and towards Chinese hamster V79 cells in the presence of hepatic microsomes from rats pretreated with Aroclor 1254. The products formed during the metabolism of 2-HOBP or BP by liver microsomes had significant mutagenic activity.