![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090512100109im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Environmental Carcinogenesis Division (ECD)
Research Projects/Activities
ECD Navigation
EPA's cancer research program differs from of other Federal agencies in that it is targeted towards environmental risk assessment. EPA's cancer research, therefore, is primarily a risk assessment/cancer prevention program and not a program targeted toward treatment. The carcinogenesis research program is located within the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL), in the Environmental Carcinogenesis Division (ECD). The research of ECD is directed not only toward developing methods for detecting environmental carcinogens but toward delineating the mechanisms of environmental carcinogenesis with the intent of resolving the issues, assumptions, and uncertainties in cancer risk assessment. ECD's research efforts improve the Agency's risk assessment process and provide a better scientific foundation for decisions regarding potential environmental carcinogens. ECD's research program is directed toward the following specific goals:
- Performing studies to define the mechanisms of the metabolic activation and detoxification for these agents to enable comparison of human and laboratory animal and cellular test system results.
- Improving models (e.g., biologically-based dose response models) used in risk assessment.
- Developing and applying biomarkers to health studies.
- Developing and validating molecular techniques, short-term bioassays, and whole animal bioassays for evaluating carcinogenic potential.
