Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic

Another section of the EPA, the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPT), has recently updated and harmonized its testing guidelines for evaluating the developmental and reproductive effects of pesticides and industrial chemicals to include an assessment of endocrine disrupting properties. These guidelines will be used in future testing of pesticides under both the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). 

OPPTS Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, EPA... 

EPA. 1983e. Status of pesticides in reregistration and special review. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. Washington, DC. EPA 738-R-93-009. 

EPA (2002). Pesticide Industry Sales and Usage. 1998 and 1999 Market Estimates, Biological and Economic Analysis Division, Office of Pesticide Programs, Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. 

US-EPA. 2006b. The United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances website. http /www.epa.gov/oppts/... 

Human research issues affect all programs in US-EPA. In its Office of Research and Development, US-EPA conducts research with human subjects to provide critical information on environmental risks, exposures, and effects in humans. This is referred to as first-party research. In both its Office of Research and Development and its program offices (including the Office of Air and Radiation, the Office of Water, the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, and the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances), US-EPA also supports research with human subjects conducted by others. This is referred to as second-party research. In aU this work US-EPA is committed to full compliance with the common rule. The US-EPA will continue to conduct and support such research, and to consider and rely on its results in US-EPA assessments and decisions. 

The US-EPA s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) has developed a series of test guidehnes called the Harmonized Test Guidehnes. For health effects, the relevant guidehnes are Series 870, Health Effects Test Guidehnes. 

Most industrially developed nations have government agencies that assess risk to human health and the environment resulting from the manufacture and use of chemical substances. Industry, consultants, academics, and the research community also undertake such assessments. For example, in the U.S., the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) devotes considerable resources to risk analyses in its review of commercial substances that are or will be released to the environment. Canada has a similar system, and so do most nations in the European Union and Japan. As the number of potentially hazardous substances introduced into commerce grows, maximizing the efficiency of these assessments becomes increasingly important. 

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