SAR—The U.S. Regulatory Perspective

Abstract

Structure-Activity Relationships (SAR) have been used for over a decade by the U.S. EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) in their new chemicals program. The development and use of SAR resulted from the need to make rapid risk-based decisions on thousands of new chemicals per year while seldom receiving data on chemical properties, potential exposures, or hazards to humans or organisms in the environment. Qualitative SAR and quantitative SAR methods (QSAR) have been used to fill some of these data gaps by estimating the potential properties and hazards of such chemicals. SAR has been used to assess chemical hazards, identify testing needs, and set priorities. Validation of these SAR assessment tools is an ongoing process.

Key Words:

• TSCA
• SAR/QSAR
• new chemicals
• existing chemicals
• hazard assessment
• ecotoxicity profile