The United States Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for developing methods to control potentially harmful chemicals entering the environment. The determination of harm is often based on laboratory toxicity tests of chemicals using plants and animals. The vast number of toxicity tests of single chemicals that have been produced to date provide an extensive data base to help determine potential harm of chemicals to humans and the environment. At Corvallis, the authors have been working on various toxicity test methods and on site characterization/assessment methods for some time. Slightly more than two years ago, ERL-Corvallis began to address ways of integrating methods to achieve meaningful ecological assessments of hazardous waste sites. Examples of research activities in Corvallis are presented.

"Paper presented at the 1990 OPPE Workshop on Statistical Issues for Superfund, Crystal City, VA., February 1990." Includes bibliographical references. Microfiche.