New tool for EDC research: in vivo assay screens for estrogenic effects

With more than 84,000 chemicals currently listed in the Toxic Substances Control Act inventory[1] and many of them lacking significant toxicologic data,[2] it's no easy task to pick out potential endocrine-disrupting compounds. [3] High-throughput in vitro assays used by programs such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ToxCast(TM) help with preliminary screening, but they can't identify how a compound may affect the body, says first author Sylvia Hewitt of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.