How do you know if the chemicals in the stuff you use and eat are safe? Only a small fraction of the thousands of chemicals in use today have been thoroughly tested for safety. Part of the problem is that how we test chemicals now is slow, expensive, and relies an awful lot on animal testing. However, a new approach is being developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration. It's known as TOX21. Using innovative techniques such as high throughput screening and computational biology, TOX21 a first step toward revolutionizing how we ensure the safety of the substances we use and carry out risk assessments. For more information on TOX21, check out the links below. FURTHER INFORMATION: TOX21 OVERVIEW US Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/ncct/Tox21/ National Toxicology Program http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/results/hts/index.html National Institutes of Health http://ncats.nih.gov/tox21/about Toxicology for the twenty-first century. Thomas Hartung. Nature 460, 208-212 (2009) http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/460208a Improving the Human Hazard Characterization of Chemicals: A Tox21 Update. Environmental Health Perspectives 121, 756-765 (2013) http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1205784 ILSI NA REVIEW OF TOX21 AND HIGH THROUGHPUT SCREENING OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES: Insights and Perspectives on Emerging Inputs to Weight of Evidence Determinations for Food Safety: Workshop ProceedingsInternational Journal of Toxicology 2013 32:405 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1091581813508436 NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy. National Academies of Science (2007) http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11970/toxicity-testing-in-the-21st-century-a-vision-and-a Incorporating 21st Century Science into Risk-Based Evaluations http://dels.nas.edu/Study-In-Progress/Incorporating-21st-Century-Science-into-Risk/DELS-BEST-14-04 MORE USELFUL LINKS ToxCast™ Program (EPA): http://www.epa.gov/ncct/toxcast/ High Throughput Exposure Forecasting (EPA): http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-12/documents/exposure_forecasting_factsheet.pdf Building a Robust 21st Century Chemical Testing Program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Recommendations for Strengthening Scientific Engagement (EHP January 2015) http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408601 Hormone disruption and high throughput screening: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/77377414BA7EBC5885257E68006EA110 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This video draws extensively on discussion and conclusions from the ILSI North America workshop "Insights and Perspectives on Emerging Inputs to Weight of Evidence Determinations for Food Safety: Workshop" in the ProceedingsInternational Journal of Toxicology 2013 32:405 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1091581813508436 Many thanks to the members of the ILSI North America Technical Committee on Food and Chemical Safety, Alison Kretser and Mansi Krishan (ILSI NA), Jennifer McPartland (EDF), and Tina Bahadori and Monica Linnenbrink (EPA) for their comments and suggestions. As always with Risk Bites videos, final editorial control lay solely with me. Backing track: Mandolin Highway by Olive Musique. http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/mandolin-highway Risk Bites videos are devised, created and produced by Andrew Maynard Risk Bites is your guide to making sense of risk. We cover everything from understanding and balancing the risks and benefits of everyday products, to health science more broadly, to the potential impacts of emerging technologies, to making sense of risk perception. If you enjoy our videos, please subscribe, and spread the word!