NTP Releases Final Process For Listing Carcinogens

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) has finalized the procedures for determining whether a substance will be listed in its biennial “Report on Carcinogens.” To increase transparency, the revised process includes a mechanism for stakeholders to provide input, but NTP has no obligation to respond. The latest version of the congressionally mandated report stirred up controversy when it was released last June—four years late because of intense opposition from the chemical industry over the inclusion of formaldehyde and styrene (C&EN, June 20, 2011, page 11). A study released on Jan. 18 by the industry group Competitive Enterprise Institute argues that the revisions to the process do not appear to address any of the major deficiencies of the Report on Carcinogens. The study claims that ambiguous laws enable NTP “to reserve to itself the discretion to consider whatever information it wants, to exclude whatever information it wants, and to evaluate that information in accordance with whatever ad hoc criteria it wants to apply.”