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t,4-u xecent lievetopments <br />• <br />~J <br />2,4-Dichlorophenozyacetic Acid Recent Developments <br />rage i ur ~ <br />In July 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued they draft of candidate <br />chemicals for their endocrine disruption High Throughput Screening (H'I'PS) demonstration studies, in <br />accordance with the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) mandate to test chemicals for endocrine <br />effect. 2,4-D is among the first 168 chemicals that have been selected by EPA to go through the tier <br />one high volume screening test. The EPA list contains chemicals that aze in three categories: (1) <br />suspected of endocrine disruption. (2) Unknown as to their endocrine potential, and (3) Known to <br />have no endocrine effects with adequate reproductive, developmental and other studies. 2,4-D was <br />placed in the third category, based on these criteria: <br />(1.) Substances known to have no hormonal activity, i.e.. negative activity to estrogen, androgen and <br />thyroid receptor transactivationrisay (EAT negative). <br />(2.) Substances with adequate and extensive in vivo databases, including developmental and <br />reproduction studies. <br />All pesticides, regardless of the category in which they are placed, must undergo the required EPA <br />endocrine disruption test program. The 2,4-D Task Force, which must provide the funding for these <br />studies, currently estimates the cost of meeting EPA's Tier One test protocols for 2,4-D at one million <br />dollars. <br />The National Cancer Institute of Canada's Advisory Committee on Cancer Control (ACOCC), an <br />expert panel set up in 1994 to examine the possible contribution of pesticide exposure to cancer <br />development, has recently published their report in the American Cancer Society journal, Cancer. The <br />report concludes that there is no evidence to suggest that exposure to pesticides contributes <br />significantly to cancer in the general population. The panel concluded that exposure of the general <br />population to pesticide residues is minimal and below the levels deemed safe by govemment regulatory <br />agencies. The report emphasized that continued efforts are necessary to point out to the general public <br />that tobacco and improper diet aze responsible for 30 and 35 percent, respectively, of all human <br />cancers. (Report of a Panel on the Relationship between Public Exposure to Pesticides and Cancer, <br />Cancer,80:2019-33. 1997) <br />http://www.24d.org/RD.html 1(/15/98 <br />