In the absence of Dr. Richard Hall and John Kirschman, I am pleased to present the report of the Scientific Evaluation and Coordination Committee. This is the third year I have served as the Consulting Director of Scientific Affairs for FEMA. It has been a very rewarding experience to work with the members of the Expert Panel, the SECC, the Board of Governors and individual members of FEMA.
This last year has been a very active one for the SECC. A number of significant new issues have risen and a number of important ongoing issues have required continued attention. This report will deal with a number of the topic areas.
MTS
The first topic is the Minimum Toxicity Screen (MTS). As you know, the LDW has come under increasing scientific and social criticism as wasteful of animal life in comparison to the relevant data generated. While there are valid uses of the LDW (determination of acute symptoms of overdose, approximate dosage range, comparison of acute toxicity for comparison and priority setting), the Expert Panel has decided to replace the classical LDW. In its place, the MTS has been developed by Carrol Weil and myself to be employed in those cases where toxicity data is needed. Basically, the MTS consists of a 14-day dietary feeding study performed using five animals of each sex at a single dose level and a concurrent control preceded by a range-finding study.
