Does The Standard Toxicological Testing Paradigm for Industrial Chemicals Apply to Screening for Children’s Health Risks?

ABSTRACT

Questions have been raised concerning whether standard toxicological testing paradigms for characterizing hazards are applicable for children. In this paper, the standard toxicological testing paradigm for industrial chemicals1 is examined. The analysis includes examination of the basic principles and elements of hazard characterization methodology based on animal toxicity data, examination of the characteristics of the standard toxicity tests that apply to assessing hazards of industrial chemicals to children’s health, and an appraisal of specific industrial chemical hazard characterizations developed by USEPA covering more than 200 substances (High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge datasets2) with regard to their relevancy for use in screening for potential risks to children’s health. We conclude that the standard toxicity tests used for industrial chemicals that comprise the USEPA’s HPV Challenge provide adequate information for developing screening-level hazard characterizations for children’s health, and when coupled with child-specific exposure information should provide adequate screening-level risk evaluations for children.

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