PENDING MOU SIDESTEPS QUESTION ON LEAD TOXICOLOGY-TESTING AGENCY

摘要

EPA and two other federal research agencies are poised to issue an agreement in the coming weeks that will help the agencies coordinate future research for implementing the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) landmark report detailing a new "vision" for the future of toxicity testing — a core risk assessment discipline — but the agreement sidesteps the controversial issue of which agency will serve as the centralized lead for the effort. Federal scientists say the agreement will smooth the way for EPA, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' (NIEHS) National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the National Human Genome Research Institute's National Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) to conduct complementary research for implementing the NAS recommendations, which call for a major change in how agencies assess substances' toxicity. NAS' June 12 report, Toxicity Testing in the Twenty-first Century: A Vision and a Strategy, calls for a major shift in how EPA and other researchers assess health impacts from contaminants — which in turn influences regulatory standards and site cleanup levels.