In this series, Dr. Kalumbu Malekani, Chief Scientific Officer, Environmental Risk Sciences, explores trends and salient topics in environmental and regulatory science.
 
Dr. Malekani spoke with Joseph Marini, Senior Research Biologist, about his poster and platform presentations at the SETAC Europe 33rd Annual Meeting in Dublin. Hear from Joe about the current opportunities and challenges in the field of environmental endocrine disruption testing.

Watch the interview:

View the full list of Smithers presentations at SETAC Europe. Posters are available for downloading.
 
Joe presented a platform presentation titled “An Amphibian Metamorphosis Assay Dietary Restriction Study: Lessons for Data Interpretation” (Presentation ID: 6.03.A.T-03) and a poster titled “Use of Xenopus laevis developmental stage-matched control data in Amphibian Metamorphosis Assays to assess inter-laboratory variation in endpoint data” (Presentation ID: 6.03.P-We382).
 
You can read Joe’s open access publication in collaboration with Corteva Agriscience and EPL titled “An Amphibian Metamorphosis Assay Dietary Restriction Study: Lessons for Data Interpretation” published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The Amphibian Metamorphosis Assay (AMA), OECD 231, is a key ecotoxicological assay required in the  European Union for endocrine disrupting properties hazard identification of biocides and plant protection products. It is required to have thyroid activity sufficiently investigated for non-target organisms. We evaluated effects of a non-chemical stressor, modelled by dietary restriction, and how those effects could impact interpretation of results. We show that dietary restriction in the AMA can induce changes that might be mistaken as specific to endocrine activity, and make recommendations for how data can be better interpreted. This study aims to allow improved differentiation between thyroid effects and general toxicity, ultimately leading to more robust decision making and reduced animal usage in assessing potential endocrine disrupting properties in amphibians.
Read the article.
 
As discussed in the interview, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft white paper for public comment, “Availability of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP)”, that describes validated NAMs that EPA may now accept as alternatives for certain EDSP tests. Learn more about the white paper here.

Contact us to discuss how the Smithers approach to environmental endocrine disruption testing is providing the accurate data needed for risk and hazard assessment for critically important substances.