Environmental Protection Agency regulatory decisions

The basic premise of the Precautionary Principle is that decision makers should implement regulatory measures to prevent or restrict actions that may harm humans or the environment, even though there is incomplete scientific evidence to assess the significance of the potential harm. It has been used as an underlying rational in several international treaties and declarations. There are various definitions of the Precautionary Principle that are represented as better safe than sorry. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines it as, When information about potential risks... 

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) has only a 90-day review period to issue a decision on Premanufacture Notices filed under the TSCA for any new compound to be manufactured or imported. The availability of inexpensive approaches for reliable assessment of hazard to environment and human health could be of immense value to OPPT. Likewise agencies such as the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) aim to promote the scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods... which reduce, refine, or replace the use of laboratory animals [5]. 

Overview of Regulatory Decisions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency... 

Currently, there are a limited number of chemicals classified as male reproductive toxicants. As scientific, public, and regulatory interest in this field increases, the result will most certainly be an increased knowledge base of the type and number of chemicals that can adversely affect the male reproductive tract. Once a chemical is considered a potential reproductive toxicant, there are measures in place to protect humans from occupational and environmental exposure. For example, when the results from a risk assessment indicate that the potential exists for adverse reproductive effects in humans, a regulatory agency such as the US EPA may impose restrictions on the availability or uses of certain compounds. Reproductive toxicity testing is fundamental to this type of risk-based decision-making, and will hopefully lead to the development of safer chemicals and drugs. 

---