Battelle will work on a $24 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for the EPA to screen commercial chemicals in an effort to protect public health and the environment.
Current efforts known as ToxCast and Tox21 underway at the EPA and other federal agencies are high-throughput screening programs that search commercial chemicals for potential bioactivity. The program to which Battelle will contribute, ExpoCast, provides complementary exposure information on those same (more than 3,000) chemicals.
The EPA will use the toxicity and exposure information to prioritize the order in which chemicals should be evaluated further and to refine associated risk assessments.
Under the new contract, Battelle will receive, collect, and analyze environmental, biological, and consumer product samples for the chemicals of interest. Emphasis will be on rapid screening methods to identify as many chemicals as possible.
