Prioritization of NTP reproductive toxicants for field studies

Population studies that evaluate human reproductive impairment are time con suming, expensive, logistically difficult, and with limited resources must be prioritized to effectively prevent the adverse health effects in humans. Interactions among health scientists, unions, and industry can serve to id entify populations exposed to potential hazards and develop strategies to e valuate and apply appropriate controls. This report describes a systematic method for prioritizing chemicals that may need human reproductive health f ield studies. Rodent reproductive toxicants identified from the National To xicology Program (NTP) Reproductive Assessment by Continuous Breeding (RACB ) protocol were prioritized on the basis of potency of toxic effect and pop ulation at risk. This model for prioritization links NTP findings with data fi om the National Occupational Exposure Survey (NOES) and the Hazardous S ubstance Data Base (HSDB) or the High Production Volume Chemical Database ( HPVC) to prioritize chemicals for their potential impact on worker populati ons. The chemicals with the highest priority for field study were: dibutyl phthalate, boric acid, tricresyl phosphate, and N,N-dimethylformamide. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.