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Safe Pesticides/Safe Products Research
Research Contributions
Bioinformatics Research to Advance Risk Assessments
EPA is advancing the development of bioinformatics tools for use in improving the ability to evaluate the potential of pesticides and industrial chemicals to cause adverse effects in humans and wildlife. In November 2005, EPA announced an award of $9 million to establish two cutting-edge environmental bioinformatics research centers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) that merge computer science, biology, and toxicology to study the relationship between environmental contaminants and their potential adverse effects.
The Research Center for Environmental Bioinformatics and Computational Toxicology 
at UMDNJ in Piscataway brings together a team of computational scientists with diverse backgrounds in bioinformatics, chemistry, modeling, and environmental studies from UMDNJ, Rutgers, and Princeton Universities, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Toxicoinformatics.
The Carolina Environmental Bioinformatics Research Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, brings together many researchers and disciplines, combining expertise in biostatistics, computational biology, chemistry, and computer science to advance the field of computational toxicology.
The bioinformatic research centers collaborate with the National Center for Computational Toxicology in EPA's Office of Research and Development to advance research in computational toxicology. Since 2006, an informational seminar series where the current work of each Center is presented and collaborations with ORD scientists are forged has been ongoing and several publications introducing new findings and computational tools have been released.
For information on grant objectives and for progress reports:
Grant #R832720 — The Carolina Environmental Bioinformatics Research Center
Grant #R832721 — New Jersey Research Center for Environmental Bioinformatics and Computational Toxicology
Health Study Protects Agricultural Workers
Agricultural workers, including farmers, pesticide applicators, and their families may have contact with pesticides and a variety of other potentially hazardous substances such as solvents, fuels, oils, exhaust, dust, and agriculturally-specific microbes, which can increase their risk of specific cancers. The Agricultural Health Study (AHS) is a prospective epidemiological study to quantify the cancer and non-cancer risks in the agricultural community and to study the relationships between agricultural pesticide exposures and disease. The study is a collaborative effort between EPA, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
The Pesticides and Toxics Research Program conducted the Pesticide Exposure Study (PES), an exposure measurement field study, to assess the exposure classification procedures developed from the AHS questionnaire data and to better understand factors leading to pesticide exposures for agricultural pesticide applicators and their families. The PES completed an exposure assessment of a small subset of just over 120 agricultural pesticide applicators and participating family members of the AHS cohort to produce data for updating AHS exposure classification algorithms and future questionnaires for NCI and NIEHS.
Results of the PES have been used in the development of a questionnaire being administered in the epidemiological study. The study results are being used by NCI, NIEHS, EPA, and NIOSH to assess and refine exposure classification procedures. The study provided preliminary results to EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) to address questions as part of the 2, 4-D reregistration eligibility decision. Ultimately the results of the overall AHS will help determine which factors cause and prevent diseases among farmers and their families, allowing the agricultural community to develop procedures for safer working conditions.
More information on the Agricultural Health Study (AHS)
Metabolomics Research at the NMR Facility
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the most powerful techniques used for measuring small organic molecules that constitute an organism's metabolic profile. In 2006, ORD installed two 600 megahertz NMR instruments in its National Exposure Research Laboratory in Athens, GA. The facility serves as a resource for ORD and is being used extensively for metabolomic research. Metabolomics involves the measurement of natural metabolites in an organism's tissues or biofluids. The metabolic profile of an organism can change when it is exposed to a chemical or other stressor. This type of research supports the Safe Pesticides/Safe Products Research Program by identifying toxicity pathways and prioritizing testing designed to improve chemical exposure and risk assessments.
For more information on the NMR Facility, contact Dr. Tim Collette at collette.tim@epa.gov or Dr. Quincy Teng at teng.quincy@epa.gov.
CCA-Treated Wood Consumer Guidance
EPA and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) collaborated on studies on the effectiveness of commercially available sealants in reducing or eliminating possible arsenic exposure from contact with surfaces of chromium, copper, and arsenic (CCA) treated wood. EPA classified CCA as a restricted-use product and has worked with pesticide manufacturers to voluntarily phase out its use on wood products around the home and in children's play areas. However, many older decks and play sets still contain CCA-treated wood. Research was prompted by concerns about children's possible dermal exposure to arsenic in treated wood and the lack of data on the ability of wood sealants and coatings to minimize exposure.
EPA and CPSC conducted studies with older CCA-treated wood. The coatings were tested by wipe sampling wood surfaces for dislodgeable CCA, based on the potential for ingestion by young children. The studies also demonstrated a methodology for industry to use in product performance testing. The data suggest that application of penetrating stains and coatings to decks or other residential CCA-treated structures can reduce levels of dislodgeable CCA for a period of time. A draft of the final report (PDF) (141 pp, 4.86MB,About PDF) of the research studies was released in October 2006 and submitted for an independent external peer review (PDF) (31 pp, 128KB,About PDF).
The report from the independent external peer review recognized that this research set the benchmark for new study protocols and future data collection and evaluation on dislodgeable CCA reduction, provided suggestions for additional studies, and invited the coatings industry to develop products with specific characteristics intended to reduce dislodgeable arsenic. Thus, the research results allow the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), CPSC, and coating and wood treating industries to improve human health and ecological risk assessments by providing methods to evaluate wood sealants or coatings for their ability to reduce toxic exposures.
More information on the sealant studies and the peer review here
Persistent Chemicals Risk Assessments
The persistence of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in the environment and their long half-lives in humans and laboratory animals, has prompted EPA to investigate the scientific underpinnings related to their effects, exposures, and risk management. EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics has asked ORD to develop a targeted research strategy to support the Agency's negotiations with the PFC industry. ORD has coordinated its laboratories to study the reported adverse health effects of PFC exposure at various life stages, focusing on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctyl sulfonate (PFOS), the most commonly detected PFC. ORD has provided extensive technical support and a wide range of research activities in support of the PFOA Risk Assessment and Enforceable Consent Agreement (ECA) activities. Extensive research on the toxicity and pharmacokinetics of PFOA and PFOS was critical for these activities and is still under way.
Collaborative efforts across ORD laboratories focus on various aspects of PFOA and PFOS exposure to animals and the environment. The National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) is investigating the toxicity and developmental outcomes of PFOA and PFOS exposure in immature and adult rodents. Joint studies with the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) analyze the tissue and serum levels following exposure to assess dose-response and patterns of accumulation and bio-persistence. Together, their research explores the relative sensitivity between developing and mature systems and the immune, hepatic, and thyroid hormone response to PFC exposure.
NERL is also developing detection methods for PFCs at low levels to characterize their environmental distribution and understand how humans are exposed. In a complementary effort, the National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) is applying the same sampling and analytical methods to soil and water matrices to determine PFC distribution and biodegradability based on soil composition or following wastewater treatment. Other research at NRMRL is characterizing the source, transport, and fate of PFCs in the indoor environment and the factors that may affect PFCs release from articles of commerce, such as clothing and upholstery.