EPA sent the following email to its EDSP ListServe:

“The EPA FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel will meet on December 2-5, 2014 to consider and review scientific issues related to “Integrated Bioactivity and Exposure Ranking: A Computational Approach for the Prioritization and Screening of Chemicals in the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program.”  The meeting will be held at the Environmental Protection Agency, Conference Center, Lobby Level, One Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA 22202.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is continuing a series of scientific peer reviews focused on computational approaches for prioritization and screening of chemicals in the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP).  The white paper developed for this meeting describes innovative approaches for determining estrogen and androgen bioactivity based on a series of computational models integrating data from ToxCast high throughput screening (HTS) assays.  The underlying science for each method is described, and EPA presents the scientific confidence in each method using computational models of estrogen and androgen bioactivity for:

1.         Prioritizing chemicals for further screening and testing;

2.         The utility of using HTS to contribute to weight of evidence based on Tier 1 battery data and other scientifically relevant information on a chemical’s potential endocrine bioactivity; and

3.         The scientific support for the potential substitution of these HTS assays for some of the lower throughput assays that are currently part of EDSP screening.

This paper also describes new science for an integrated bioactivity and exposure ranking (IBER) approach to rank chemicals and prioritize further EDSP consideration. The IBER approach is demonstrated using estrogen and androgen receptor pathway, with mention of parallel efforts underway to develop similar models for the androgen receptor pathway.

All meeting materials (e.g., charge questions, background document, agenda, and all other EPA materials) are available in the e-docket, EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0614 (http://www.regulations.gov).

Link to meeting:  http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap/meetings/2014/120214meeting.html

Associated White Paper:  Integrated Bioactivity and Exposure Ranking: A Computational Approach for the Prioritization and Screening of Chemicals in the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program

Link to White Paper:  http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0614-0003

This meeting will be accessible thru a live online webcast.  The live webcast will enable interested persons to listen to the entire public meeting and to view the PowerPoint presentations displayed at the meeting.  To participate in the live webcast, please click on the link below to access the webcast instructions.  The webcast link will not be active until 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting.  You must use a PC and Internet Explorer as your browser.  Link to Instructions:  http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap/webcast.pdf.  Please note that the webcast is a supplementary public process provided only for convenience.  If difficulties arise resulting in webcasting outages, the meeting will continue as planned.

Additional general information concerning the meeting, including the webcast information, is posted on the SAP website, http://www.epa.gov/scipoly. “