Toxicity characterization of environmental chemicals by the US National Toxicology Program: an overview

The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) is an interagency program whose mission is to evaluate agents of public health concern by developing and applying the tools of modern toxicology and molecular biology. Chemicals substances or physical agents selected for toxicology and carcinogenesis evaluations by the NTP are usually studied in a series of subacute (14-day exposure), subchronic (90-day exposure) and chronic (2-year exposure) studies in rodents. The NTP has published more than 500 reports of the findings and conclusions from its toxicology and carcinogenesis studies. In more specialized studies, the NTP also evaluates adverse effects on the structure and function of the immune, reproductive, nervous, and respiratory systems. The program attempts to evaluate and appropriately incorporate new technologies to improve the way we study the toxicity of chemicals. For example, the program has extensively evaluated several transgenic mouse models for their potential use as short-term cancer screens and has been a full participant in an international effort to examine their usefulness in pharmaceutical registration. Toxicogenomics, an emerging scientific field that examines the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously in response to chemical exposure, holds promise for future application to better understand the underlying mechanisms of chemical toxicity. A number of public health issues being addressed by the NTP are not only of national importance but also have global impact, such as the potential for endocrine disruptors to influence development and carcinogenesis and the safety of herbal medicines and dietary supplements. The program participates in the preparation of national and international toxicity testing guidelines and the findings from NTP studies are widely used for risk assessments by international organizations and federal agencies. The NTP maintains databases that contain toxicity, and health and safety information on a large number of chemicals. These databases are available from the NTP web site (http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov) and are accessed over 100000 times a month from around the world.