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APPLICATION OF FETAX IN ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENTS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT
Citation:
Hoke, R. A. AND G T. Ankley. APPLICATION OF FETAX IN ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENTS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT. Presented at 22nd SETAC Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, November 11-15, 2001.
Description:
A workshop sponsored by NIEHS in 2000 evaluated the use of FETAX as a screening method for identifying the developmental toxicity potenial of chemical and environmental samples. Workshop recommendations pertinent to environmental risk assessment suggested that additional comparative evaluation was necessary of FETAX endpoints (i.e., malformations, growth) versus each other, versus endpoints from aquatic toxicity tests using traditional species such as daphnids and rainbow trout, and versus testswith other amphibian species. Changes in assay conditions and/or better documentation of assay conditions were also recommended to help interpret or eliminate potential confounding factors in the assay. Comparison of existing acute toxicity data from FETAX with data from tests with other amphibian species or tradtional aquatic test species indicate that: 1) the FETAX growth endpoint (MCIG) is generally as sensitive as the FETAX malformation endpoint, and 2) both traditional aquatic test species and other amphibian species are generally more sensitive than FETAX when comparing available toxicity data. These results suggest that environmental risk assessments using acute hazard data from tests with traditional aquatic test species such as daphnids and rainbow trout will generally be more protective of native amphibian species than risk assessments that use hazard data from FETAX.