Animals as sentinels of human health hazards of environmental chemicals

A workshop titled "Using Sentinel Species Data to Address the potential Hum an Health Effects of Chemicals in the Environment," sponsored by the U.S. A rmy Center for Environmental Health Research, the National Center for Envir onmental Assessment of the EPA, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Dis ease Registry, was held to consider the use of sentinel and surrogate anima l species data for evaluating the potential human health effects of chemica ls in the environment. The workshop took a broad view of the sentinel speci es concept, and included mammalian and nonmammalian species, companion anim als, food animals, fish, amphibians, and other wildlife. Sentinel species d ata included observations of wild animals in field situations as well as ex perimental animal data. Workshop participants identified potential applicat ions for sentinel species data derived from monitoring programs or serendip itous observations and explored the potential use of such information in hu man health hazard and risk assessments and for evaluating causes or mechani sms of effect. Although it is unlikely that sentinel species data will be u sed as the sole determinative factor in evaluating human health concerns, s uch data can be useful as for additional weight of evidence in a risk asses sment, for providing early warning of situations requiring further study, o r for monitoring the course of remedial activities. Attention was given to the factors impeding the application of sentinel species approaches and the ir acceptance in the scientific and regulatory communities. Workshop partic ipants identified a number of critical research needs and opportunities for interagency collaboration that could help advance the use of sentinel spec ies approaches.