title: Building a robust 21st century chemical testing program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: recommendations for strengthening scientific engagement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Biological pathway-based chemical testing approaches are central to the National Research Council's vision for 21st century toxicity testing. Approaches such as high-throughput in vitro screening offer the potential to evaluate thousands of chemicals faster and cheaper than ever before and to reduce testing on laboratory animals. Collaborative scientific engagement is important in addressing scientific issues arising in new federal chemical testing programs and for achieving stakeholder support of their use.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We present two recommendations specifically focused on increasing scientific engagement in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ToxCast™ initiative. Through these recommendations we seek to bolster the scientific foundation of federal chemical testing efforts such as ToxCast™ and the public health decisions that rely upon them.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Environmental Defense Fund works across disciplines and with diverse groups to improve the science underlying environmental health decisions. We propose that the U.S. EPA can strengthen the scientific foundation of its new chemical testing efforts and increase support for them in the scientific research community by a) expanding and diversifying scientific input into the development and application of new chemical testing methods through collaborative workshops, and b) seeking out mutually beneficial research partnerships.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our recommendations provide concrete actions for the U.S. EPA to increase and diversify engagement with the scientific research community in its ToxCast™ initiative. We believe that such engagement will help ensure that new chemical testing data are scientifically robust and that the U.S. EPA gains the support and acceptance needed to sustain new testing efforts to protect public health.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McPartland
authors.forename: Heather C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Dantzker
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Portier
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D066298:In Vitro Techniques / Q000379:methods; D009307:National Academy of Sciences, U.S.; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States; D014484:United States Environmental Protection Agency
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants