CAST is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization composed of 38 scientific societies and many individual, student, company, nonprofit, and associate society members. CAST's Board of Directors is composed of 38 representatives of the scientific societies and individual members representing over 170,000 member scientists, and an eight-member Executive Committee. CAST was established in 1972 as a result of a 1970 meeting sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council.

The primary work of CAST is the publication of task force reports, commentary papers and issue papers written by scientists from many disciplines. The CAST Board of Directors is responsible for the policies and procedures followed in developing, processing, and disseminating the documents produced. These publications and their distribution are fundamental activities that accomplish our mission to assemble, interpret, and communicate credible science-based information regionally, nationally, and internationally to legislators, regulators, policymakers, the media, the private sector, and the public. The wide distribution of CAST publications to nonscientists enhances the education and understanding of the general public. 

CAST addresses issues of animal sciences, food sciences and agricultural technology, plant and soil sciences, and plant protection sciences with inputs from economists, social scientists, toxicologists or plant pathologists and entomologists, weed scientists, nematologists, and legal experts.