Research Product

In 2002 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its Interim Policy on Genomics” stating that such data may be considered in risk assessment and decision making processes, but that these data alone were insufficient as a basis for decisions. Following the Interim Policy, the Agency’s Science Policy Council created a Genomics Task Force charged with examining the impact genomics is likely to have on EPA Programs and policies in a paper entitled Potential Implications of Genomics for Regulatory and Risk Assessment Applications at EPA. That document identified: 1) prioritizatjon of contaminants and contaminated sites, 2) monitoring, 3) reporting provisions; and 4) risk assessment, as four areas most likely to be affected by genomics. The Genomics Task Force also identified a critical need for a technical framework of analysis and acceptance criteria for genomics information in scientific and regulatory applications. In 2004, the Genomics Technical Framework and Training Workgroup was formed to develope this technical framework of analysis and acceptance criteria. As a first step, this Workgroup is developing "Interim Guidance for Microarray-Based Assays: Regulatory and Risk Assessment Applications at EPA on the use of such genomics data as by the Agency and regulated Community.