Since 1982, members of our staff have supported EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs. As part of this contract, our staff assess environmental and human health impacts on anthropogenic chemicals. The agricultural industry is critical to food and textile production, it is a large contributor to the U.S. economy. Not only does the industry provide food and materials for the U.S., it also provides products that are high-demand exports for other countries. Our dedicated staff help support this important industry by helping to ensure products used by the agricultural industry aren’t adversely impacting humans, animals, and the surrounding environment.

Bee in a large, bright yellow bloom

Our work consists of

  • Evaluating pesticide residues in food and feed crops as well as livestock
  • Evaluating mammalian toxicity data for agricultural and industrial chemicals
  • Determining critical end-points, no-observed-adverse-effect levels and lowest-observed-adverse-effect, reference doses or reference concentrations, and cancer values
  • Assessing risk and analyzing weight of evidence
  • Evaluating chemical toxicity to non-target species
  • Determining no-observed-adverse-effect levels and lowest-observed-adverse-effect levels
  • Monitoring movement, metabolism, and degradation of chemicals in the environment
  • Evaluating regulatory compliance and quality assurance

For 41 years our staff have been providing these services to EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, making this contract our longest client relationship!

Close-up view of a blueberry bush with hundreds of blueberries at all stages of ripeness
Blueberries rely on bees to pollinate them in order to produce fruit.

Mature cornfield stretching along side a road.
Amongst other uses, corn is often used as a feed crop, one in which our staff evaluate pesticide residues.

See More CSS Insights

Studying Mesophotic Coral Health

Mesophotic coral can live at depths of 500 feet below the ocean surface. Even at this depth, some of the mesophotic corals in the Gulf of Mexico were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Our coral scientists supporting NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science are studying the extent of this impact.…

Ensuring Safety and Support for Sample Testing on the International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) gives scientists the opportunity to study the effects of space travel on human and plant tissues as well as understand how physical materials react during formation or exposure to a microgravity environment. CSS provides integrative expertise to NASA to support research and development and technology demonstrations conducted on the ISS,…

NG-23 rocket launched

Preparing and Delivering Samples for Travel to the International Space Station

CSS employee owners on contract with NASA delivered six newly prepared Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA)—a high temperature furnace with temperature and timing control for melting samples to create different materials and alloys—samples for the NG-23 launch, which took place on September 14, 2025. On this mission, samples are being delivered for…