EPA Seeks Methods For Data Analysis

EPA will give awards to researchers who come up with innovative ideas for using federally generated toxicity data on chemicals to predict potential health effects. For the past several years, EPA, NIH, and FDA have generated toxicity data for hundreds of chemicals using high-throughput biochemical and cell-based assays. EPA made results of the tests public last week. Chemicals that are run through the assays are used in industry or consumer products or as food additives or drugs. EPA’s first two challenges are aimed at using these data to predict the lowest dose of a compound that would show adverse effects in laboratory animals. Data are available online at epa.gov/ncct/challenges.html.