Individual-administered human behavioral test batteries to identify neurotoxic chemicals

Abstract

Most research demonstrating behavioral effects of occupational chemical exposures is produced in established laboratories using a consistent set or battery of tests. Exemplifying this tradition are batteries developed at Finland's Institute of Occupational Health, Milan's Institute of Occupational Health, Sweden's National Institute of Occupational Health, Australia's National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and at universities in the United States and other countries. In 1983, under the World Health Organization (WHO) aegis, experienced human occupational researchers recommended the Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery (NCTB) as a screening instrument to be administered by an individual to subjects exposed to chemicals believed to be neurotoxic. Health professionals from 50 cities in 27 countries distributed on every large continent have been trained to administer the NCTB according to its Operational Guide. Six issues need to be addressed regarding human-administered test batteries: (a) The critical role of individual-administered batteries to screen chemically exposed populations in a field increasingly dominated by computer-administered batteries; (b) selection criteria for tests to assess known and unknown chemicals; (c) utility of baseline data for study analysis and interpretation; (d) test battery validation; (e) availability and cost of inexpensive test batteries; and (f) equivalence of computer- and human-administered variants of the same tests.