EPA seeks public comment on the Agency’s proposed use of an alternative scientific approach to screen chemicals for their ability to interact with the endocrine system. EPA believes that this new approach will improve the Agency’s ability to fulfill its statutory mandate to screen pesticide chemicals and other substances for their ability to cause adverse effects by their interaction with the endocrine system. EPA’s new proposed approach incorporates high throughput assays and a computational model and is intended to serve as an alternative for some of the current assays in EPA’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program Tier 1 battery.

EPA has partial screening results for over 1800 chemicals that have been evaluated using high throughput assays and a computational model for the estrogen receptor pathway. In the future, EPA anticipates that additional alternative methods will be available for EDSP chemical screening based on further advancements of high throughput assays and computational models for other endocrine pathways. EPA believes that use of these alternative methods will accelerate the pace of screening, decrease costs, and reduce animal testing.

Comments must be received by EPA on or before August 18, 2015.

Click here for EPA’s Federal register notice soliciting comments.