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What is ‘U.S. EPA’s NAMs Training Pilot Program’? Making the most out of the centralized portal for New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) Tools and adaptation of NAMs tools to aid hazard evaluation and exposures assessment.
Citation:
Mutlu, E. What is ‘U.S. EPA’s NAMs Training Pilot Program’? Making the most out of the centralized portal for New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) Tools and adaptation of NAMs tools to aid hazard evaluation and exposures assessment. SOT, Salt Lake City, UT, March 10 - 14, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
N/A
Description:
The U.S. EPA has a long history of using New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) (e.g., read across and quantitative structure activity relationship) for hazard identification and modeling for exposure assessment. The agency continues to implement NAMs for new and existing chemicals to evaluate hazard, exposure, and environmental fate, which reflects the commitment for using NAMs for decision making, recently, in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) new chemicals program, as appropriate. A ‘NAMs Work Plan’ was created to prioritize agency efforts and resources to reduce the use of vertebrate animal testing. The plan includes efforts and resources toward the development and application of NAMs while continuing to protect human health and the environment. One of the primary ‘work plan’ deliverables is to develop NAMs training courses and materials for a broad range of stakeholders. To provide these deliverables, the EPA NAMs Training Pilot Program was developed to provide regular engagement opportunities for NAMs tool users and make NAMs resources and trainings more accessible and engaging. In addition, in 2020, EPA launched a centralized portal for releasing EPA-related NAM information including regular updates to ensure transparency and accountability; active solicitation of stakeholders’ comments and feedback; access to training courses, workshops and conferences held by EPA; and summaries of NAMs research and data. This presentation will provide an overview of NAMs Training Pilot Program; summary of post training survey result from NAMs trainings and information on a suite of widely used tools that contribute to NAMs which are developed in collaboration with various stakeholders. The presentation aims to highlight efforts to reach a broader audience by showcasing several NAMs tools and how they can be used while increasing the awareness of other various EPA resources that are freely available to public. The presentation aims to provide examples and to encourage proactive identification of stakeholder needs to build confidence in using NAMs tools.