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Mark T.D. Cronin,¹ John D. Walker,² Joanna S. Jaworska,³ Michael H.I. Comber,⁴ Christopher D. Watts,⁵ and Andrew P. Worth⁶

¹School of Pharmacy and Chemistry, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, England; ²Toxic Substances Control Act Interagency Testing Committee, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA; ³Procter & Gamble, Strombeek-Bever, Belgium; ⁴Product Stewardship & Regulatory Affairs, ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences Inc., Machelen, Belgium; ⁵WRc-NSF, National Centre for Environmental Toxicology, Medmenham, Marlow, Bucks, England: ⁶European Chemicals Bureau, Institute for Health & Consumer Protection, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Ispra, Italy

Abstract
This article is a review of the use, by regulatory agencies and authorities, of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) to predict ecologic effects and environmental fate of chemicals. For many years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been the most prominent regulatory agency using QSARs to predict the ecologic effects and environmental fate of chemicals. However, as increasing numbers of standard QSAR methods are developed and validated to predict ecologic effects and environmental fate of chemicals, it is anticipated that more regulatory agencies and authorities will find them to be acceptable alternatives to chemical testing. Key words: bioaccumulation, chemical substances, persistence, QSAR, regulatory agencies, toxicity. Environ Health Perspect 111:1376-1390 (2003) . doi:10.1289/ehp.5759 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 6 February 2003]