Improving the scientific foundation for mixtures joint toxicity and risk assessment: Contributions from the SOT mixtures project-Introduction

Journal Article · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2007.02.010· OSTI ID:21077784

Borgert, Christopher J ^[1]; Bus, James S ^[2]; Moiz Mumtaz, M ^[3]; Simmons, Jane Ellen ^[4]; Sipes, I Glenn ^[5]

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1. Applied Pharmacology and Toxicology, Inc., Gainesville, FL (United States)
2. Dow Company, Toxicology Research Lab., Midland, MI (United States)
3. Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA (United States)
4. NHEERL/ORD/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
5. University of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ (United States)

Risk assessments are enhanced when policy and other decision-makers have access to experimental science designed to specifically inform key policy questions. Currently, our scientific understanding and science policy for environmental mixtures are based largely on extrapolating from and combining data in the observable range of single chemical toxicity to lower environmental concentrations and composition, i.e., using higher dose data to extrapolate and predict lower dose toxicity. There is a growing consensus that the default assumptions underlying those mixtures risk assessments that are conducted in the absence of actual mixtures data rest on an inadequate scientific database. Future scientific research should both build upon the current science and advance toxicology into largely uncharted territory. More precise approaches to better characterize toxicity of mixtures are needed. The Society of Toxicology (SOT) sponsored a series of panels, seminars, and workshops to help catalyze and improve the design and conduct of experimental toxicological research to better inform risk assessors and decision makers. This paper summarizes the activities of the SOT Mixtures Program and serves as the introductory paper to a series of articles in this issue, which hope to inspire innovative research and challenge the status quo.

• OSTI ID: 21077784
• Journal Information: Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, Journal Name: Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 223; ISSN TXAPA9; ISSN 0041-008X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
DESIGN
DOSES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
HEALTH HAZARDS
RISK ASSESSMENT
TOXICITY