Longer Tests on Lab Animals Urged for Potential Carcinogens

Current government regulatory agencies typically require that industrial chemicals, including food additives and environmental pollutants, be administered to lab rodents beginning shortly after birth and ending after two years to test whether those substances might cause cancer in humans. But a new peer-reviewed paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives argues that those tests sometimes understate human risks and should start in utero and continue as long as three years, the approximate life spans of rats and mice. The longer, more sensitive tests would provide a more reliable picture of the risk that various chemicals pose to humans throughout their lifespan, the authors say. The authors charged that practically all rodent tests submitted to regulatory agencies are insufficiently sensitive.

By CSPI, USA.

Health Policy Resource.

CSPI's Director of Litigation Named Advocate of the Year

The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest is pleased to announce Stephen Gardner, director of its litigation project, was named Advocate of the Year by the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA). That organization presented the award at its annual meeting in Portland, Oregon on Oct. 25.

By CSPI, USA.

Health Policy Resource.