title: Improving weight of evidence approaches to chemical evaluations.
abstract: Federal and other regulatory agencies often use or claim to use a weight of evidence (WoE) approach in chemical evaluation. Their approaches to the use of WoE, however, differ significantly, rely heavily on subjective professional judgment, and merit improvement. We review uses of WoE approaches in key articles in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, and find significant variations. We find that a hypothesis-based WoE approach, developed by Lorenz Rhomberg et al., can provide a stronger scientific basis for chemical assessment while improving transparency and preserving the appropriate scope of professional judgment. Their approach, while still evolving, relies on the explicit specification of the hypothesized basis for using the information at hand to infer the ability of an agent to cause human health impacts or, more broadly, affect other endpoints of concern. We describe and endorse such a hypothesis-based WoE approach to chemical evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia.
authors.forename: Randall
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lutter
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borgert
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Charnley
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dudley
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Felsot
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Golden
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Daland
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Juberg
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rachman
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rhomberg
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sundlof
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Willett
keywords: Chemical evaluation; hypothesis; weight of evidence