Many things have an impact on the endocrine system—stress, food, exercise, pollution. ACC is engaged with the scientific community and regulatory agencies to enhance the scientific understanding of chemicals that may interact with the endocrine system and to promote sound decisions to effectively manage risks that may exist from exposure to them.
Policy Background
Congress in 1996 directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop ways to measure the effects certain substances may have on the human endocrine system, evaluate the risk they may pose and if necessary take actions to protect human health and the environment. EPA’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) has two tiers: screen substances for endocrine related activity and then determine if that activity can cause adverse effects at specific levels of exposure.
ACC supports EPA’s extensive research and development program to develop, standardize and validate methods to study substances and their potential effect on the endocrine system.
ACC’s Policy Position
Regulatory decisions about chemicals that may affect the endocrine system need to be based on several factors including whether a chemical causes endocrine-related activity, how this activity relates to realistic levels and means of exposure to the chemical and what steps may be needed to manage possible risks.
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When screening substances for endocrine-related activities, especially when using emerging technologies, EPA must use validated methods so the results can be relied upon, replicated and trusted by all stakeholders.
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An indication of endocrine-related activity must be viewed in the appropriate context—it should not be interpreted on its own as evidence of adverse effects.
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When conducting safety assessments, EPA must use a “weight of evidence” approach, meaning the agency should consider all relevant safety data and not rely simply on one piece of information.
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New methods and technologies for rapid screening of chemical substances are now emerging, such as EPA’s “ToxCast 21” program. ACC supports the evaluation, validation and implementation of these technologies where they are relevant to endocrine effects.
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EPA’s EDSP Tier 1 screening is an ambitious testing program that utilizes a suite of new, costly test methods. Before EPA expands testing beyond the substances now covered by the program, EPA should assess how well the tests perform and if necessary develop and validate other test methods.
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