Combining environmental chemical effect assays and exposure analysis

Development of an integrated approach to environmental monitoring addresses a critical need in toxicity testing: the demand to predict and characterize the potential risk, a product of both hazard and exposure, posed by thousands of chemicals for which there may be limited biological data or analytical detection methods. Historically, when biological assays, e.g. acute, subchronic, or chronic evaluations in animals, have identified potentially toxic substances, these substances are then evaluated in environmental samples using target chemical analysis. However, the volume of chemicals released and an increased understanding of the anthropogenic chemicals in the environment have made the current monitoring scheme insufficient to meet the growing demand for potential risk information in a timely manner. The advantages of a high-throughput, integrated effect and exposure analysis include: decreased animal testing, more information on the total activity of environmental samples at particular endpoints of interest, and the development of an analytical chemistry scheme that would target “sentinel” or representative chemicals that may predict the overall contaminant load of the samples. Ultimately, this could enable broader testing and perhaps decrease the number of chemicals tested in a targeted manner.

This website is set up in order to further cultivate the communication among researchers who work on the IEEA field. This site is also aimed at bringing biologists/toxicologists and analytical chemists, who now work independently, together to further expand the IEEA research. Materials such as workshop proceedings and publications will be posted within the site. Inputs from interested parties will be shared among the group.