The National Toxicology Program (NTP) is an inter-agency program run by the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

to coordinate, evaluate, and report on toxicology within public agencies. The National Toxicology Program is headquartered at the

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) conducts research into the effects of the environment on human disease, as one of the 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is located in the Rese ...

(NIEHS). The NIEHS Director, currently

Richard Woychik Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and i ...

, also concurrently serves as NTP Director.

History

The program was established in 1978 by Joseph A. Califano Jr., then the

United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare The United States secretary of health and human services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all health matters. The secretary is ...

(today known as the Secretary of Health and Human Services). The program arose from congressional concerns about the health effects of chemical agents in the environment. In October 1981, Secretary Richard S. Schwiker granted permanent status to the program.

Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods

The NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM) supports the development and evaluation of new, revised, and alternative methods for chemical safety testing. Alternative methods are methods for safety testing of chemicals and chemical products that use fewer or no animals or that minimize or prevent animal pain and distress. NICEATM is directed by Dr. Warren Casey, PhD, DABT. The NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 directed NIEHS to establish criteria for the validation and regulatory acceptance of alternative test methods and a process for their subsequent implementation. This led to the establishment of the

Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods The Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) coordinates U.S. federal government evaluation of new, revised, and alternative test methods. Alternative methods are methods for safety testing of chemicals ...

via the ICCVAM Authorization Act of 2000, which stated that ICCVAM would exist as a permanent interagency committee of NIEHS under NICEATM. In addition to supporting ICCVAM, NICEATM activities include: * Conducting and publishing analyses and evaluations of data from new, revised, and alternative testing approaches * Providing information to test method developers, regulators, and regulated industry through its website and other communications and by organizing workshops and symposia on topics of interest * Providing bioinformatics and computational toxicology support to National Toxicology Program and NIEHS projects, especially those related to

Tox21 Thymocyte selection-associated high mobility group box protein TOX is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TOX'' gene. TOX drives T-cell exhaustion and plays a role in innate lymphoid cell development. Structure The TOX gene encodes a ...

NICEATM publishes results of its analyses of alternative test methods and approaches in the peer-reviewed literature and presents at meetings of the

Society of Toxicology The Society of Toxicology (SOT) is a learned society (professional association) based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of toxicology. Goals The SOT is committed to creating a safer and healthier world by advan ...

and the

World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

Office of the Report on Carcinogens

The United States federgovernment's NIEHS National Toxicology Program's Office of the Report on

Carcinogens A carcinogen () is any agent that promotes the development of cancer. Carcinogens can include synthetic chemicals, naturally occurring substances, physical agents such as ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and biologic agents such as viruse ...

is responsible for publishing a ''Report On Carcinogens'', first issued in 1980. The latest edition is the 15th Report, issued in 2021. The 14th Report, published in 2016, contains "248 listings of agents, substances, mixtures, and exposure circumstances that are known or reasonably anticipated to cause cancer in humans." This edition added seven newly reviewed listings, of which the only synthetic chemical was

trichloroethylene Trichloroethylene (TCE) is an organochloride with the formula C2HCl3, commonly used as an industrial metal-degreasing solvent. It is a clear, colourless, non-flammable, volatile liquid with a chloroform-like pleasant mild smell and sweet taste.

References

External links

*
NICEATM website

Tox21
– U.S. Government high-throughput screening initiative
Ninth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences
– official website {{Authority control Health in the United States National Institutes of Health Toxicology