Data from the literature for 25 compounds belonging to different chemical classes were collected and their potency in the autoradiographic repair assay in rat liver cells was compared with their carcinogenic potency. A very modest correlation was found between the two parameters (v = 0.36). For 21 of the compounds it was also possible to compare mutagenic potency in the Ames test with carcinogenic potency. Even in this case the correlation was low (r = 0.40). The results are compared with those of previous studies of different short‐term tests used to predict carcinogenic potency.