House Bill Would Ban EPA Use of Human Test Data

摘要

The House has approved an amendment to an EPA spending bill that would prevent the agency from using or accepting scientific chemical exposure studies based on human test subjects.Representatives Hilda Solis (D.,CA) and Tim Bishop (D.,NY) proposed the legislation,which states that EPA cannot "accept,consider,or rely on third-party intentional dosing human studies for pesticides;or to conduct intentional dosing human studies for pesticides." The issue is important to industry because chemical exposure regulations based on studies involving humans are not as stringent as those based on animal health data,sources say.Federal law requires a wider margin of safety for regulations for which no human data is available.EPA's policy on when to accept third-party studies on chemical exposure that use human subjects has been the subject of controversy for many years,and the agency has sought advice from the National Academy of Sciences on how to resolve the ethical issues associated with human testing.The amendment has not yet passed the Senate.