National Toxicology Program

[Guest guest]

I had never heard of the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human

Reproduction that was just mentioned in the post from Jens (thanks for the info,

Jens!), so I did a search and discovered the National Toxicology Program:

About the NTP

http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/about

More than 80,000 chemicals are registered for use in the United States. Each

year, an estimated 2,000 new ones are introduced for use in such everyday items

as foods, personal care products, prescription drugs, household cleaners, and

lawn care products. We do not know the effects of many of these chemicals on our

health, yet we may be exposed to them while manufacturing, distributing, using,

and disposing of them or when they become pollutants in our air, water, or soil.

Relatively few chemicals are thought to pose a significant risk to human health.

However, safeguarding public health depends on identifying both what the effects

of these chemicals are and at what levels of exposure they may become hazardous

to humans—that is, understanding their toxicology.

The NTP is an interagency program whose mission is to evaluate agents of public

health concern by developing and applying tools of modern toxicology and

molecular biology. The program maintains an objective, science-based approach in

dealing with critical issues in toxicology and is committed to using the best

science available to prioritize, design, conduct, and interpret its studies. To

that end, the NTP is continually evolving to remain at the cutting edge of

scientific research and to develop and apply new technologies.

Nominations to the Testing Program

http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/nom

The NTP maintains a balanced research and testing program that provides data

addressing a wide variety of issues important to public health. The NTP actively

seeks to identify and select for study chemicals and other substances for which

sufficient information is not available to adequately evaluate potential human

health hazards. The NTP accomplishes this goal through a formal open nomination

and selection process. Substances considered appropriate for study generally

fall into two broad yet overlapping categories:

1.Substances judged to have high concern as a possible public health hazard

based on the extent of human exposure and/or suspicion of toxicity.

2.Substances for which toxicological data gaps exist and additional studies

would aid in assessing potential human health risks, e.g. by facilitating

cross-species extrapolation or evaluating dose-response relationships.

Input is also solicited regarding the nomination of studies that permit the

testing of hypotheses to enhance the predictive ability of future NTP studies,

address mechanisms of toxicity, or fill significant gaps in the knowledge of the

toxicity of classes of chemical, biological, or physical substances. Increased

efforts continue to be focused on:

1.Improving the quality of the nominations of chemicals, environmental agents,

or issues for study so that public health and regulatory needs are addressed.

2. Broadening the base and diversity of nominating organizations and

individuals.

3.Increasing nominations for studying toxicological endpoints in addition to

carcinogenesis.

Has anyone ever nominated SSRI's for study? What if we all bombarded them with

nominations? Any drug that causes a person to lose their ability to experience

happiness and joy or worse yet strips a person of their emotions, causes brain

damage, destroys normal sexual functioning surely would qualify as an acceptable

substance to be studied, and this yahoogroup sure has a multitude of examples of

how harmful SSRI's are, even if we represent a small percentage of people

affected.