Fish Acute Toxicity Syndromes: Application to the Development of Mechanism-Specific QSARS

摘要

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under a variety of legislation,is charged with the responsibility of assessing the hazard of chemicals to human health and the environment. In some instances, EPA incorporates predictive techniques in its decision-making process (Auer et al., 1990). Predictive toxicological methods are often employed as cost-effective components in an overall strategy for prioritizing chemicals for in-depth investigation. Predictive approaches are also used where empirical toxicological data is either unavailable or not required under a specific statute. For example, under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) the EPA Office of Toxic Substances must review and assess the potential hazard of a new industrial chemical within 90 d, generally with little accompanying information beyond the compound's structure (Auer et al., 1990). The implementation of TSCA illustrates the need to establish reliable predictive techniques because laboratory resources are limited and the potential number of compounds for study is large. (Copyright (c) 1990 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels and Luxembourg.)