title: Guidelines for developing and using quantitative structure-activity relationships.
abstract: Numerous quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) have been developed to predict properties, fate, and effects of mostly discrete organic chemicals. As the demand for different types of regulatory testing increases and the cost of experimental testing escalates, there is a need to evaluate the use of QSARs and provide some guidance to avoid their misuse, especially as QSARs are being considered for regulatory purposes. This paper provides some guidelines that will promote the proper development and use of QSARs. While this paper uses examples of QSARs to predict toxicity, the proposed guidelines are applicable to QSARs used to predict physical or chemical properties, environmental fate, ecological effects and health effects.
authors.affiliation: TSCA Interagency Testing Committee, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (7401M), Washington, DC 20460, USA. walker.johnd@epa.gov
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jaworska
authors.forename: Mike H I
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Comber
authors.forename: T Wayne
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Dearden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004782:Environmental Health; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D021281:Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants