A toxic chemical that surprised scientists when it was discovered in certain foods might not be as big a concern after all, an Augusta researcher said.

Dale Sickles, a neurotoxicologist and vice chairman of Cell Biology and Anatomy at Medical College of Georgia, serves on an external review panel for the Environmental Protection Agency. The 15-member EPA Science Advisory Board for the chemical acrylamide will meet in Washington, D.C., next week to review draft recommendations on what is a safe level of exposure to the toxin.

Acrylamide is a neurotoxin and carcinogen formed in food when carbohydrate-rich material that also contains the amino acid asparagine is exposed to high heat such as deep-fat frying or baking. The highest amounts are in potato chips, for instance, Dr. Sickles said.

The acrylamide discovery in food in 2002 by Swedish researchers kicked off a flurry of research into acrylamide, which is also used to treat wastewater, stabilize soil in mining and harden paper during manufacturing, Dr. Sickles said.

"That peaked everybody's interest in it," said Dr. Sickles, who has studied its neurotoxic effects.

Previously, acrylamide had been considered an issue for workers in those industries that used it, but the food findings changed all that, he said.

"It then turned it into an environmental issue," Dr. Sickles said. "The big question was, 'Is there enough in food that's going to produce a significant health hazard?' And through a huge amount of that research, it appears that it's not going to be a major health issue."

The EPA panel meeting next week will review and probably recommend a higher level of safe exposure than was set at its last review in 1988. The new safe level is 3 micrograms per kilogram per day, up from 0.2 micrograms per kilogram per day.

"Even someone on a bad diet, you're not going to be able to consume enough acrylamide to be a significant risk for cancer or (other) diseases," he said.

The EPA will review the panel's recommendations and public comments and will post those as soon as possible on its Integrated Risk Information System, the EPA Press Office wrote in an e-mail.

The toxin has been shown to cause cancer in rats at a rate of 2 milligrams per kilogram per day. Most Americans, however, would get an average of 0.4 micrograms per kilogram per day and the highest exposure would probably be about 1 microgram, or 1 /2,000 of the amount found to cause cancer in rats.

"Everybody believes, I think, that we can tolerate a little bit more than what we originally presumed," Dr. Sickles said.

But that's no reason to stuff yourself with chips and french fries, he said. Other factors such as smoking add acrylamide. Other environmental hazards, such as pesticides, can affect the motor protein in nerves that acrylamide acts upon. That protein, called kinesin, is needed to carry important chemical messengers from the nerve body to distant parts. Otherwise, the nerve might become dysfunctional or die back, he said.