The statutory language of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcemen
t Act of 1986 (Proposition 65; California Health and Safety Code 25249
.5 et seq.) encourages rapid adoption of ''no significant risk levels'
' (NSRLs), intakes associated with estimated cancer risks of no more t
han 1 in 100,000. Derivation of an NSRL for a carcinogen listed under
Proposition 65 requires the development of a cancer potency value. Thi
s paper discusses the methodology for the derivation of cancer potenci
es using an expedited procedure, and provides potency estimates for a
number of agents listed as carcinogens under Proposition 65. To derive
expedited potency values, default risk assessment methods are applied
to data sets selected from an extensive tabulation of animal cancer b
ioassays according to criteria used by regulatory agencies. A subset o
f these expedited values is compared to values previously developed by
regulatory agencies using conventional quantitative risk assessment a
nd found to be in good agreement. Specific regulatory activities which
could be facilitated by adopting similar expedited procedures are ide
ntified.