EPA Evaluation of Avian Toxicity Tests for Pesticide Registration
In a February 2020 news release, EPA announced that it had finalized guidance to reduce testing of pesticides on birds when registering conventional outdoor pesticides. The guidance describes the results and implications of a retrospective study conducted by EPA and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Hilton et al. 2019). The study explored the quantitative and qualitative contributions of risk assessment methods using single oral dose and subacute dietary toxicity endpoints to the overall conclusions of acute avian risk. The analysis indicated that, in most cases, the subacute dietary results had little impact on risk conclusions based on the use of acute oral data alone. This finding is expected to reduce the number of animals tested by a total of 60 birds per test, for a total projected animal savings of over 700 animals per year based on a typical number of new chemicals registered.