United States Environmental Protection Agency toxicity studies

USEPA (1998) Developmental neurotoxicity study. Health effects test guidelines. Washington, DC, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (EPA Document 712-C-98-239 OPPTS 870.6300 http //www.epa.gov/opptsfrs/publications/OPPTS Harmonized/870 Health Effects Test Guidelines/Series/870-6300.pdf). 

We know much less about the health risks from indoor air pollution than we do about those attributable to the contamination of outdoor air [4]. Several studies have shown that for inhabitants, especially children and other vulnerable subgroups, the home environment may be a dominant source of exposure to toxicants, including pesticides [5]. Indoor pollution has been ranked by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Advisory Board (US-EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control as a high environmental risk [6]. 

There is no conclusive proof that lead and lead compounds cause cancer in humans, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Service s (DHHS) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, although the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified lead as a probable carcinogen and the DHHS has classified lead and lead compounds as reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens, based on animal tests and Hmited human studies. ... 

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to protect from disclosure to third-parties confidential business information (CBI) submitted to the Agency. The statutory provision requiring EPA to create protections for CBI is TSCA 14. TSCA 14 defines the nature of the CBI that should be maintained in confidence by reference to the Freedom of Information Act, which in turn protects information from disclosure if it consists of trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential. Examples of information considered CBI under TSCA include chemical formulas, material inputs identification, process information, chemical substance identities, company names, site locations, and volumes of substances manufactured, imported, or processed. The EPA may make pubHc any information claimed as CBI in health and safety studies on substances or mixtures that have been offered for commercial sale or for which testing is required under 4 or for which notification is required under 5. However, EPA cannot disclose process information or information about the proportion of chemical substances in a mixture. ... 

The United States of America in 1998 announced the Chemical Right-to-Know (RTK) Initiative46 which was the US government response to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study that found that very little basic toxicity information is publicly available on most of the HPV chemicals made and used in the USA. It should be noted that the US definition of UPV chemicals is different from that used in the rest of the world, as the US definition is a chemical produced in or imported into the US A in amounts... 

However the reality is that we know very little about the chemicals in daily commercial use. Of the 100,000 chemicals in common use, 30,000 are used in volumes of one tonne or more. Of these 95 percent have little or no environmental or human health data simply because prior to 1980 no data were required before marketing in the United States or Europe. Unfortunately, these grandfathered chemicals make up the vast majority of chemicals in daily use and our governments continue to rely on a slow process of testing that places the burden of proof on governments to show harm, rather than the chemical industry to prove safety. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States has restricted less than ten chemicals in 25 years, even though many chemicals are toxic in animal studies and found in human tissue. 

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