EPA Screens 700 More Chemicals for Toxic Effects

Published November 30, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC — Seven hundred chemicals are going through a federal chemical screening program, bringing the total number of chemicals to pass through the ToxCast tests to 1,000.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began screening chemicals with ToxCast in 2007. Chemicals are put through 500 quick tests, and the intent of ToxCast is to predict how chemicals will affect humans and how they can cause health problems.

More than 84,000 chemicals are registered in the United States, and due to current laws, the EPA has been able to order tests on only a few hundred of them and take action on a handful, a process that two bills in Congress — the Safe Chemicals Act and the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act — aim to change dramatically.

ToxCast is part of the larger Tox21 program, which has brought together various agencies and institutes to create better, quicker and cheaper methods for screening and testing chemicals.

While the first 300 chemicals to go through ToxCast were mostly pesticides, the latest batch includes chemicals found in food additives, industrial and consumer products, and drugs that were never put on the market.

In May, the EPA received data on more than 100 failed drugs from four pharmaceutical companies. By putting the drugs through ToxCast and comparing the results to the drug companies' clinical trials, the EPA can see how well ToxCast is identifying the effects of chemicals.

The EPA is also comparing the ToxCast data from its first 300 chemicals to animal studies so see which tests are most accurate. The EPA recently began moving away from animal tests, which it calls slow and expensive.

For a complete list of chemicals going through ToxCast, see the EPA's CompTox website.

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Jonathan Bardelline is a regular contributor to GreenBiz.com, where he formerly served as Associate Editor.

This technology will be

Not a Guinea Pig (not verified), December 1, 2010 - 10:22

This technology will be helpful if we are able to provide the EPA with the backbone it needs to test more of these 84,000 chemicals. Our system for regulating chemicals in this country is broken. Chemicals enjoy the same rights a people - innocent until proven guilty. The EPA was unable under the existing TSCA law to ban asbestos despite it being a known carcinogen.

Both the House and the Senate introduced legislation this year at some level to reform chemical safety in the United States. With a new Congress coming in, the fate of this legislation is uncertain as is the ability to introduce legislation as strong as that proposed by Sen. Lautenberg. For more information visit www.notaguineapig.com where we are working to pass chemical safety overhaul in the U.S.

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EPA Screens 700 More Chemicals for Toxic Effects

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EPA Screens 700 More Chemicals for Toxic Effects

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