ACC Supports Research under EPA's ToxCast Program

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) reaffirmed its support for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ToxCast Program being implemented under the National Center for Computational Toxicology. ToxCast will research approaches to predict chemical toxicity using advanced scientific methodologies and will develop methods of prioritizing chemicals for further screening and testing. ACC president and CEO, Cal Dooley issued the following statement:

“The chemistry industry recognizes that concerns about the impact of chemical products on human health and the environment can be addressed by harnessing new science and technologies for testing chemicals. ACC members support the ToxCast program and believe it can do much to promote appropriate chemical assessment and regulation by utilizing the latest methodologies for testing the toxicological impacts of chemicals.

“American chemistry is the nation’s innovation engine. We provide vital products that improve our quality of life such as safety equipment for first responders, heart medication, car seats, solar panels, and the list goes on. We have long supported chemical testing through programs like the High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge. Our industry spent more than $2.4 billion on health and safety in 2007, much of it in testing programs to assure safety. However, we recognize that more can be done and are leading the way to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to enhance chemicals management. We support devoting more resources to develop advanced technologies for chemical evaluations. This effort should include providing EPA increased funding to conduct appropriate testing as echoed in this week’s testimony by EPA administrator Jackson who called for a significant increase in funding. This research must also include science-based interpretation tools—like ToxCast so that the results can be translated into information that can be used in critical decisions about chemical and product safety.

“The development and use of advances like ToxCast holds great promise. There is still work to be done on interpreting the data from these methods and ACC strongly supports research to assure that they can be used effectively in risk-based decision making. In short, we believe the ToxCast program is a welcome step that reflects industry and consumer’s call for a modernized regulatory system that makes the most of scientific and technological advances achieved over the last 30 years.”