Advisors Cautiously Back Tox21 Tools' Use In EPA EDSP Prioritization Plan

摘要

Science advisors are agreeing that EPA can apply 21st century toxicology (Tox21) methods to prioritize the 10,000 chemicals that could undergo screening in the agency's Endocrine Disrupter Screening Program (EDSP), but they are warning that EPA needs to make major revisions to the plan and faces challenges in further adding Tox21 methods to the long-stalled program. Members of the Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP), who convened to review EPA's proposed prototype for prioritizing chemicals to undergo EDSP screening, hinted that EPA had taken a promising step toward turning a sweeping vision for a new toxicity testing paradigm into reality. EPA's plan represents the agency's first major effort to incorporate Tox21 tools in regulatory decision-making, giving a glimpse of technologies EPA staff hope can eventually replace the arduous animal tests incorporated in the existing EDSP screening batteries.