The US National Toxicology Programme has announced the release date of its case-study protocols, scheduled April 9, to test its planned approach for introducing systematic review techniques into its processes for evaluating chemical safety. There is an article about it in this month’s Environmental Health Perspectives. And there is this, from the NTP website (note the download […]
An on-going point of discussion among colleagues is the appropriate composition of expert panels and whether or not experts with clear and obvious conflicts of interest should be permitted to stand on them. While this is important, it is also important to be clear that ensuring a group of people gives you a balanced opinion […]
Last week I was in Edinburgh at a symposium organised by the CAMARADES research network, which was asking why only 1% of stroke drugs which look good in animal trials end up being effective in humans. (We’ll get to why this matters for toxicological research in a bit.) The picture of drug development painted at […]
This will be fun! It is now confirmed that I’ll be speaking about the Policy from Science Project at a workshop at the SETAC Europe Annual meeting, in Glasgow in May. The workshop topic is: Closing the Gap Between Academic Research and Regulatory Risk Assessment of Chemicals. (Sunday 12 May 2013, 13:00-18:00) It promises to […]
When the Policy Makers Who Are Supposed to Protect Us, Get Risk Wrong. Weighing the pros and cons of risk- vs. hazard-based approaches to risk management: do we err on the side of caution, or should we be certain that something poses a real risk before we restrict its use? Efsa launches transparency initiative. Hans […]
The principles of the Cochrane Collaboration should be fertile ground for opening discussion of how we can change our approach to chemical safety assessment, with implications not only for minimizing bias in data generation and review, but even for managing the overall process of ensuring all chemicals have an adequate pedigree of safety before being […]
Chemical Watch has run a story about us. Project launched to drive change in review process for chemicals. Transfer techniques from evidence-based medicine, says new think tank. Review techniques used in evidence-based medicine should be transferred to chemical risk assessment to help resolve differences and controversies. This is the message from a new initiative, the Policy […]
Yesterday I participated in a very interesting webinar presenting preliminary findings of a forthcoming case study, applying the Navigation Guide methodology to evidence that PFCs may be reproductive toxins. For those not already aware, the Guide is a US EPA- and University of California San Francisco-led project looking at how methods used for evaluating study […]
Chemical industry turns again to flawed study. Under attack since May for relying on flawed studies to justify the use of toxic flame retardants in furniture and household products, the chemical industry has turned to a familiar tactic: It has begun pointing to a new scientific paper. Efsa management board adopts external recommendations. The European […]
Chemical Watch (20 December 2012) quoted me in response to the adoption by EFSA’s management board of Ernst & Young’s recommendations from their “evaluation of the agency’s ability to provide independent, high quality scientific advice to EU policy-makers.” The quote could use some clarification. What the journalist and I were discussing was the need for […]