5.4: National Regulatory Toxicology

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Learning Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Define what is meant by “National Regulatory Toxicology”.
Give an example of a national regulatory regulation.

What is National Regulatory Toxicology?

As the name suggests, it focuses on regulatory toxicology at the national level (e.g., United States, Canada, China). Regulations are set by authorities that apply for the entire country. The focus on the United States (US) deals with regulations established at the federal level, and all states within the US must comply with federal regulations.

Example agencies that set national toxicology regulations in the U.S.:

All agencies aim to set regulations to protect against adverse health effects from exposure to substances. Different agencies regulate on different types of substances, that are used for different purposes and affect different populations.

Goal of EPA is to protect human and environmental health; deals with exposures to substances in the environment (e.g., air, water, soil). It typically pertains to exposures that the general population generally does not have control over (e.g., air pollution) as well as modernizing chemical regulation in the US, e.g. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was recently revised.

TSCA was first passed in 1976. TSCA was revised with passage of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act in 2016. It regulates new or already existing chemicals manufactured or in use in the US.

Topic 4: Key Points

In this section, we explored the following main points:

1: What is National Regulatory Toxicology?
2: Examples of National Agencies in the U.S.
3: What do these Agencies regulate?
4: Highlight: EPA and TSCA Reform.

Knowledge Check

1. EPA regulates chemicals that are in:

Food

Environmental media (e.g., water, air)

Drugs and Medical Devices

Shampoo

Answer: Environmental media (e.g., water, air)

2.US States can choose not to comply with regulations set by the FDA

True

False

Answer: False