News & Views

News:

Dr. Borgert was invited to testify before Congress on February 25, 2010 at the House Committee on Energy and Environment hearing, “Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Drinking Water: Risks to Human Health and Environment.”  This  hearing examined the science and regulation of endocrine disruptors that may be found in sources of drinking water. Congress may require EPA to expand its Endocrine Screening Program beyond the initial 67 chemicals ordered in 2009/2010 to include pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and other chemicals that have been detected in trace amounts in ground water. Because the Endocrine Screening Program is not fully validated, Dr. Borgert recommended that Congress provide EPA the time and resources to strengthen the science before screening hundreds of additional chemicals. He also informed the Committee of substantial scientific evidence to dispel a number of misconceptions about the Endocrine Screening Program. He explained that the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) is not designed to identify endocrine disruptors, but rather to discriminate between chemicals that need definitive testing versus those that do not, and that to date, there are no credible public health risks from typical exposures to claimed endocrine disruptors, including chemicals in the water supply.

Recent Presentations:

Dr. Borgert spoke on “Experimental Evaluation of Interactions: Pitfalls and Challenges”, at the 41st Annual Symposium, Society of Toxicology of Canada, Montreal, Quebec, Nov 29-Dec 1, 2009. The theme of the  Symposium was "Toxicology of Drug and Chemical Mixtures: From Mechanisms to Risk Assessment."

Dr. Borgert spoke at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis, December 6-9, 2009, Baltimore, Maryland, in the session, “Moving Past the Rhetoric: Meaningful Dialogue on the Issue of Funding and Scientific Integrity.

Dr. Borgert was faculty in a continuing education course, Current Approaches in Mixture Risk, at the Society of Toxicology, Continuing Education Program, 47th Annual Meeting, March 15-19, 2009, Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Borgert presented a lecture on “Relative Potency Factors in Drug Safety Assessment.”

Borgert, CJ. National Academy of Sciences workshop on Characterizing the Potential Human Toxicity from Low Doses of Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water: Are New Risk Assessment Methods or Approaches Required? Considerations for Single Chemical vs Mixture Risk Assessment December 11-12, 2008, Washington, D.C.

Other News:

Dr. Borgert was President of the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology in 2007-2008, and he currently serves on the Society’s Governing Council. He was the Society’s Treasurer 2003-2006.

Endocrine Disruption Issue & Involvement:

Dr. Borgert served on the U.S.EPA Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC) as the general representative for Small Business stakeholders. EDSTAC was a Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S.EPA commissioned to develop recommendations for screening pesticides, industrial and agricultural chemicals pursuant to requirements of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act and 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act.  In addition to serving on the plenary committee, he also served on the Screening and Testing Workgroup of the EDSTAC and Co-chaired the Communication and Outreach Workgroup.  He drafted a considerable section of the EDSTAC report on validation of the screening and testing batteries.

In 1998, APT developed detailed protocols for the EDSTAC-recommended assays and used them to conduct a cost estimate survey that is published in Appendix S of the EDSTAC Final Report.  The survey, including complete protocols, is in the Federal Docket for the EDSTAC. APT updated the survey in 2003.

Dr. Borgert continues to participate in inter-industry groups addressing the validation and standardization of endocrine screening and testing assays pursuant to EDSTAC, and in 2002, served on the OECD Peer-Review Panel for Validation of the Uterotrophic Assay.

At the 2006 Chemical Producers and Distributors Association (CPDA) meeting, Dr. Borgert presented his perspectives on the status of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP), including Validation of Tier 1 Screens and Tier 2 Tests, and Priority Setting of pesticide ingredients for initial screening.  This presentation was followed by an interview published in the Pesticide.net Insider eJournal Volume 3,
Issue 5.