The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) uses a two-tiered approach to determine a chemical’s potential to interact with estrogen, androgen, and thyroid hormone pathways in humans and/or wildlife. Currently, EPA is tasked with evaluating potential endocrine activity of all pesticide chemicals and substances found in drinking water to which a substantial population may be exposed. EDSP has identified a “Universe of Chemicals” (UoC) – based on existing pesticide active and inert ingredients, regulated Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) contaminants, and the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) Universe. The current UoC is overly broad, and contains numerous compounds which are of limited interest to EPA, difficult to evaluate for endocrine disrupting activity, or for which relevant exposures are outside EPA’s regulatory authority. Because the requirements for testing, data review, and weight-of-evidence determination require substantial temporal, financial, animal, and staff resources, a workflow was developed to eliminate and/or defer many irrelevant substances as part of prioritization of chemicals with increased potential for exposure and endocrine activity. The EDSP Dashboard, developed as part of EPA’s CompTox dashboards initiative, is intended to provide greater transparency in the selection and prioritization process and will provide agency scientists and external stakeholders with a tool to rapidly explore data that guides agency decisions, including the revised UoC.<br/><br/>The refinement of the EDSP UoC is concurrent with the implementation of the EDSP21 work plan, aimed at incorporation of alternative scientific approaches to more rapidly screen chemicals for their ability to interact with the endocrine system. The EDSP21 approach utilizes high throughput bioassays, computational models, and exposure predictions to screen and prioritize the UoC for potential endocrine bioactivity. Ultimately, the prioritization of the UoC will enable more complete implementation of EDSP21 by focusing EDSP screening and prioritization resources on only the most relevant chemicals.

Identifying and prioritizing chemicals for evaluation of potential endocrine bioactivity and exposure

255th National Meeting (2018)

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