Scientific Review Meeting Planned for Captan
Captan has been in use as a nonselective fungicide for over fifty years. EPA currently classifies captan as a "probable human carcinogen" (B2) using their 1986 guidelines for cancer risk assessment. Registrants as well as other investigators have developed additional data that can be used to describe a mode of action for captan. In 2001, the Captan Task Force requested that EPA re-evaluate captan under its current draft cancer risk assessment guidelines. The Agency was not able to allocate re
sources to this task, reflecting budgetary constraints and higher priorities. The Agency, however, saw value in addressing this issue, particularly with the pending tolerance reassessments for other B2 compounds, and agreed in principle with the proposal to reevaluate captan by using an independent third party review. This alternative approach is an option EPA is making available to the registrants; that is, while it is noted as a viable approach, the Agency is not directing that a third party review be undertaken. The document to be reviewed presents a cancer hazard assessment and weight of evidence narrative for captan following EPA's 2003 Draft Final Guidelines for Cancer Risk Assessment. The objective of this meeting is to review the document for the validity of the arguments and conclusions regarding the characterization of captan.
The meeting will be held on September 3-4, 2003 at the University of Cincinnati. The document has been prepared by VJP Consulting, Inc. and C. Wilkinson, LLC on behalf of the Captan Task Force. More information regarding the meeting, such as logistics, agenda, assessment document, and panel charge can be found at: http://www.tera.org/peer/captan/captanwelcome.htm (Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) Press Release, 7/21/03).
