EPA Awards Contracts to U.S. Companies to Screen Chemicals for Human Health Impacts (HQ, CA, MI)
WASHINGTON— The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)
ToxCast chemical screening program has awarded contracts to four
United States-based companies to test up to 10,000 chemicals for
potential toxicity to people and the environment. ToxCast is
designed to determine how chemical exposures affect human health.
When fully implemented, ToxCast will be able to screen thousands of
chemicals in fast, cost-effective tests.
The four companies will initially screen up to
1,000 chemicals currently in the ToxCast program using innovative
technologies such as stem cell toxicity tests. These new
technologies can quickly determine the potential for a chemical to
cause harm to the human body. Screening results from the new
technologies will be combined with data already being generated by
the other 500 rapid chemical tests used by EPA’s ToxCast
program.
The chemicals ToxCast is now screening are found
in industrial and consumer products, food additives and drugs.
ToxCast’s goal is to reduce EPA’s reliance on slow and
expensive animal toxicity tests, enabling the agency to screen
chemicals more quickly and to predict and identify potential risks
to Americans.
EPA scientific studies using ToxCast have
already been published in peer-reviewed science journals, and
demonstrate the ability of ToxCast to predict a chemical’s
potential to cause several diseases.
The four companies awarded the contracts have
offices throughout the country and plan to hire new scientific
staff to help with the project. The companies are Vala Sciences,
Cee Tox, CellzDirect and BioReliance. Two of the companies, Vala
Sciences and BioReliance are small businesses based in San Diego,
Calif. and Kalamazoo, Mich. All four companies plan to hire new
employees as a result of these contracts.
More information on ToxCast: http://epa.gov/ncct/toxcast/
More information on ToxCast database: http://actor.epa.gov/actor/faces/ToxCastDB/Home.jsp