RTI researchers will assist the EPA in developing and standardising tests to screen pesticide chemicals and environmental contaminants
RTI International, in partnership with Springborn Smithers Laboratories, Wildlife International, and Integrated Laboratory Systems, will assist the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) endocrine disruptor screening programme in its efforts to validate testing protocols used to identify potential endocrine disrupting chemicals.
Under the five-year contract, RTI researchers will assist the EPA in developing and standardising tests to screen pesticide chemicals and environmental contaminants for their potential to cause developmental and reproductive problems in humans as well as animals.
"Appropriate scientific data have not been generated to assess the effects that each of the thousands of chemicals currently in production today might have on human and animal endocrine systems," said Julia George, RTI senior toxicologist and principal investigator for the project.
"We are validating testing methods that will standardize accurate testing measures so that the EPA can better determine the safety profile of chemicals that may come in contact with people and animals".
The endocrine disruptor screening programme was launched in 2001 in response to the Food Quality Protection Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act that directed the EPA to develop a screening programme that used appropriate validated test systems and other scientifically relevant information to determine whether certain substances may have adverse hormonal effects in humans.
RTI has worked with the EPA and its predecessor organisations for 35 years and has supported the endocrine disruptor screening programme since its inception.
As a leader in the field of environmental science and environmental health research, RTI conducts a wide range of research in support of the EPA and its many programme offices.
