Toxic studies need stricter standards

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. National Research Council Thursday recommended stricter standards for studies in which humans are given doses of toxic chemicals.

The council, part of the National Academies, said the Environmental Protection Agency should use stricter scientific and ethical standards when considering studies that involve intentional dosing of humans with toxic chemicals.

The council said a review board should be set up to evaluate any human-dosing study that might affect the agency's policies and that any human testing of chemicals should be done only with great care.

"Human studies involving pesticides, air pollutants or other toxicants -- as opposed to therapeutic agents -- are particularly controversial, and because of this, EPA should subject these studies to the highest level of scientific and ethical scrutiny," said committee co-chair James F. Childress, a professor at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

The National Resources Defense Council in Washington criticized the recommendations and issued a statement calling the report "gravely disturbing" and riddled with inconsistencies.

Rather than setting certain standards for chemical testing on humans, no testing of toxic chemicals on humans should be allowed, the NRDC said.