September 5, 2007—The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a new program, ToxCast, that the agency says will “revolutionize” its chemical toxicity evaluation procedures. This three-phased program sets priorities for toxicity testing of environmental chemicals in order to more efficiently obtain critical information necessary to protect people and the environment.
EPA’s National Center for Computational Toxicology released a list of 340 chemicals that will be evaluated under Phase I of the ToxCast research program. The chemicals will be examined in hundreds of different rapid computer tests referred to as high throughput screening (HTS) bioassays.
Phase I will be used to create chemical signatures of compounds. These chemical signatures will then be compared to known toxicity data in this proof-of-concept phase. It is expected that patterns will emerge that are predictive of compounds that could cause harm to people and the environment. Results of Phase I are expected in 2008, and will be posted on the ToxCast Web site.
Phase II will involve a larger, more diverse set of chemicals to test the predictability of patterns identified in Phase I. In Phase III, ToxCast will expand the list to thousands of environmental chemicals, delivering an affordable, science-based system for decision-makers.
For more information visit the ToxCast program Web site.
