Expert testifies against Styrene carcinogens report

ERJ staff report (R&PN)

Washington DC - The National Toxicology Program's Report on Carcinogens (RoC) process need comprehensive oversight and fundamental reforms to ensure its listings are based on the soundest, most complete scientific information, a styrene expert said yesterday before the a joint meeting of two House subcommittees.

James Bus, a toxicologist with the Dow Chemical Co., testified on behalf of the Styrene Information and Research Center, of which Dow is a member.

“A thorough assessment of the RoC process is needed, ideally through a National Academy of Sciences review,” Bus told the subcommittees. “NTP fails to use many scientific best practices, does not meet minimum standard of peer review and, going forward, has reduced transparency by not providing written responses to public comments.”

SIRC and its members protested in June 2011 when the NTP listed styrene as an anticipated cancer-causing agent in the 12th annual RoC, for the first time ever. The NTP's assessment of styrene, they said, focused on a selected set of studies rather than a weight-of-evidence assessment.

Later that year, SIRC joined the US Small Business Administration, the American Composites Manufacturers Association and the National Marine Manufacturers Association in opposition to proposed changes in the NTP's RoC review process. The NTP sought to make permanent the protocols it followed in assessing styrene.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)