Mission & Goals

In the course of our daily lives, human beings are exposed to many substances. Most of these chemical and physical agents are harmless at everyday doses, while others have the potential to cause adverse health effects.

NTP exists to develop the information and the tools that both agencies of government and industry need so that we can all live together safely in the same world.

The mission of the NTP is to partner to build knowledge and advance toxicological sciences to protect and promote human health. In carrying out its mission, the federal NTP partners develop and apply new approaches, technologies, and research methods, necessary to achieve the vision of innovative and trusted toxicological science that protects human health.

The NTP partners work together and with other stakeholders to identify potentially hazardous substances and evaluate their effects for human health. Scientific data, reports, and monographs from NTP projects are freely available on the NTP website, and are used broadly by medical and scientific communities, health research and regulatory agencies, journalists and media professionals, and the public. These data and reports can also be used by federal and state agencies to support regulations, create guidelines, or ban hazardous substances.

By expanding the existing pool of data and knowledge on the potential toxicity of various substances and environmental agents—and by broadly communicating that information—NTP facilitates informed decisions to safeguard the public health, and thus helps improve the nation's overall well-being.