National Academies Press: OpenBook

Review of the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens (2014)

Chapter: Appendix B: Statement of Task of the Committee to Review the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens

« Previous: Appendix A: Biographic Information on the Committee to Review the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Statement of Task of the Committee to Review the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens." National Research Council. 2014. Review of the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18725.
×
Page 164

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

Appendix B Statement of Task of the Committee to Review the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens A committee of the National Research Council (NRC) will conduct a sci- entific peer review of the styrene assessment presented in the National Toxicol- ogy Program (NTP) 12th Report on Carcinogens (RoC). The committee will identify and evaluate relevant, publicly available, peer-reviewed literature, with particular emphasis on literature published as of June 10, 2011, the release date of the 12th RoC. The committee will document its decisions for inclusion or exclusion of literature from its evaluation and will identify the set of information deemed most critical to the evaluation. The committee will apply independently the NTP’s established RoC listing criteria to the scientific evidence from studies in humans, experimental animals, and other studies relevant to mechanisms of carcinogenesis and make independent level-of-evidence determinations with respect to the human and animal studies. The committee will integrate the level- of-evidence conclusions, and considering all relevant information in accordance with the RoC listing criteria, make an independent listing recommendation for styrene and provide scientific justification for its recommendation. Note: The NRC has an agreement with the Department of Health and Hu- man Services to undertake a scientific peer review of the determinations con- cerning formaldehyde and styrene in the National Toxicology Program’s 12th Report on Carcinogens (RoC). The expert committees appointed by the Acade- my for this assignment will follow standard Academy practices in carrying out their independent scientific reviews, which may include consideration of any and all issues that the committees and the Academy decide are necessary to car- ry out credible, independent, scientific evaluations of the two determinations, potentially including the criteria for the determinations. The statements of task for these two peer reviews were recently modified to make it clear that the NRC’s assignment does not also include a separate review of the National Toxi- cology Program’s listing criteria. 164

Next: Appendix C: Review of the Literature Search Used in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens »
Review of the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $48.00 Buy Ebook | $38.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Many people in the United States are exposed to styrene. Sources of environmental exposure included food (from migration of styrene from polymer packaging materials), cigarette smoke, vehicle exhaust and other forms of combustion and incineration of styrene polymers. Occupational exposure to humans can occur during the industrial processing of styrene. It is used to create a broad spectrum of products, including latex paints and coatings; synthetic rubbers; construction materials, such as pipes, fittings, and lighting fixtures; packaging; household goods, such as synthetic marble, flooring, and molded furnishings; and automotive parts. In 2011, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) listed styrene as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen" in its 12th Report on Carcinogens, marking the first time that the substance was listed. Congress directed the Department of Health and Human Services to arrange for the National Academy of Sciences to independently review the substance profile of styrene and it listing in the NTP report.

Review of the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens concurs with the NTP determination that there is limited but credible evidence that exposure to styrene in some occupational settings is associated with an increase in the frequency of lymphohematopoietic cancers. Additionally, the NRC report authoring committee independently reviewed the scientific evidence from studies in humans, experimental animals, and other studies relevant to the mechanisms of carcinogenesis and made level-of-evidence conclusions. Based on credible but limited evidence of carcinogenicity in traditional epidemiologic studies, on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in animals, and on convincing evidence that styrene is genotoxic in exposed humans, this report finds that compelling evidence exists to support a listing of styrene as, at a minimum, "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen."

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!