A senior toxicologist at RTI International whose expertise includes research on bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical found in food containers and household products, will now advise the National Sanitation Foundation International on reproductive and toxicology issues.
Rochelle “Shelley” Tyl, a distinguished fellow in developmental and reproductive toxicology at RTI, a nonprofit research institute based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, has been appointed to the Health Advisory Board of the NSF International, an accredited third-party certification body that tests and certifies products to ensure they meet public health and safety standards in America and around the world.
Tyl’s support of NSF International will focus on reproductive and toxicology issues as they relate to product standards, testing and certification.Tyl brings to NSF International more than 40 years of experience in reproductive and developmental biology and toxicology. At RTI, she is a distinguished research fellow in developmental and reproductive toxicology (DART) and a principal investigator of DART studies in the Center for Pharmacology and Toxicology. She has led two prominent animal studies assessing the risks of low doses of BPA. She has said that the research does not show evidence that BPA is harmful. Safety advocates criticized her studies because they were funded by the chemicals industry.
Besides her work at RTI, Tyl regularly consults for governmental and commercial bodies on DART issues. She is also an adjunct professor of toxicology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.