Recent Additions for 2006

EPA announces the release of the Toxicological Review for 2,2,4-Trimethylpentane and notice of the External Peer Review Panel Meeting in the [Federal Register Dec 29, 2006]. This draft assessment is provided for public viewing and comment. Public comments received on the Toxicological Review within 45 days after the release of the FRN will be provided to the external peer reviewers for their consideration. Any comments not received within the requested time period will be considered by EPA in their revisions.

EPA announced the release of the external review draft entitled: "A Review of the Impact of Climate Variability and Change on Aeroallergens and their Associated Effects" in a [Federal Register Dec 29, 2006].

EPA is establishing an advisory committee for the Human Impacts of Climate Change Advisory Committee (HICCAC). The purpose of this Committee is to provide advice on the conduct of a study titled "Analyses of the effects of global change on human health and welfare and human systems" to be conducted as part of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). The draft prospectus for the study is on the CCSP Web site at http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-6/sap4-6prospectus-final.htm.

EPA is establishing an advisory committee for the Adaptation for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources Advisory Committee (ACSERAC). The purpose of this Committee is to provide advice on the conduct of a study titled "Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources" to be conducted as part of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). The draft prospectus for the study is on the CCSP web site at http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-4/sap4-4prospectus-final.htm.

EPA is soliciting public nominations for chemical substances for its 2007 agenda. EPA invites the public to submit nominations for substances to be considered for an assessment or reassessment in its IRIS Program. The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) database that contains EPA's scientific positions on human health effects that may result from exposure to chemical substances in the environment. For more information about IRIS, visit http://epa.gov/iris

EPA's IRIS Program is announcing that an external peer review panel meeting to review the draft documents entitled, "Toxicological Review of TetraBDE (BDE-47): In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)" (NCEA-S-2537); "Toxicological Review of PentaBDE (BDE-99): In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)" (NCEA-S-2538); "Toxicological Review of HexaBDE (BDE-153): In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)" (NCEA-S-2539); and "Toxicological Review of DecaBDE (BDE-209): In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)" (NCEA-S-2540) as announced in the [Federal Register Dec 22, 2006]

EPA includes the final report from the 2006 external peer review of the IRIS Assessment of 1,4-Dichlorobenzene (inhalation cancer assessment and RfC), prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). A panel of external peer reviewers met on November 3, 2006 to discuss their responses to the charge questions. This final document contains the written comments of the external peer reviewers.

EPA announces the release of the final report, "An inventory of sources and environmental releases of dioxin-like compounds in the United States for the years 1987, 1995 and 2000." This is a comprehensive evaluation of sources and emissions of dioxins (CDDs), dibenzofurans (CDFs) and coplanar PCBs to the air, land and water of the United States.

EPA announces a workshop that will be held on December 13-14 on the Interpretation of Epidemiologic Studies of Multipollutant Exposure and Health Effects find out more in the [Federal Register Nov 22, 2006].

The National Center for Environmental Assessment has prepared the Toxicological Reviews of Cyanobacterial Toxins: Anatoxin-a, Cylindrospermopsin and Microcystins (LR, RR, YR and LA) as a series of dose-response assessments to support the health assessment of unregulated contaminants on the CCL. The purpose of these documents is to compile and evaluate the available data regarding toxicity of these toxins to aid the Office of Water in regulatory decision making. Find out more about these external peer reviews in the [Federal Register Nov 20, 2006].

The Society for Risk Assessment (SRA) conference is an important annual meeting for researchers, risk assessors, and risk managers. Several EPA papers and sessions will be presented that directly address risk issues under consideration in the Agency. NCEA will be overseaing an ORD booth/table at the meeting to answer questions and provide information. The conference is scheduled for December 3-6, 2006 in Baltimore Maryland.

EPA announces the release of the final report, Exposures and Internal Doses of Trihalomethanes(THMs) in Humans: Multi-Route Contributions from Drinking Water, which presents the results of an analysis in which multiple data sets and physiologically based pharmacokinetic models (PKPBs) were combined to estimate the oral, dermal and inhalation route-specific contributions to internal doses of THMs, which are drinking water disinfection byproducts.

EPA is announcing the release of the final document, Classification of High Spatial Resolution, Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Imagery of the Little Miami River Watershed in Southwest Ohio, USA .

EPA Announces several new recruitments in the fields of ecology, biology and physical science. The deadline for these positions is November 8, 2006.

EPA is announcing that on October 26-27, 2006 a peer-review workshop will be held, as explained in the [Federal Register Oct 16, 2006], to review the draft document, Approaches to Estimating the Waterborne Disease Outbreak Burden in the United States: Uses and Limitations of the Waterborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (External Review Draft).

EPA has released a final report entitled, A Framework for Assessing Health Risk of Environmental Exposures to Children, as announced in the [Federal Register Oct 13, 2006]. This Framework examines the impact of potential exposures during developmental lifestages and subsequent lifestages, while emphasizing the iterative nature of the analysis phase with a multidisciplinary team.

EPA is announcing the extension of an the public comment period for the review of the draft document, Evaluation of the Carcinogenicity of Ethylene Oxide), as announced in an [Federal Register Oct 12, 2006].

EPA is announcing the extension of an the public comment period for the review of the draft document,Toxicological Review of Dichlorobenzenes: In Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), as announced in an [Federal Register Oct 12, 2006].

Innovative strategies to conserve the world's coral reefs are included in a new guide released today by NOAA, and the Australian Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, with author contributions from a variety of international partners from government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions. Dr. Jordan West, of the National Center for Environmental Assessment, was a major contributor to the guide. Referred to as "A Reef Manager's Guide to Coral Bleaching" , the guide will provide coral reef managers with the latest scientific information on the causes of coral bleaching and new management strategies for responding to this significant threat to coral reef ecosystems.

EPA is announcing a 60-day public comment period for the external review draft document titled, Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook (EPA/600/R-06/096A) as announced in a [Federal Register Oct 6, 2006]. This draft is an update of the Child-Specific Exposure Factors 2002 Interim Handbook .

NCEA announces three new project descriptions for Post-Doctoral vacancy opportunities. The candidate will need to ensure they can fulfill these project description to qualify for the position(s). The filing deadline is November 3, 2006.

EPA announces the availability of EPA's final document, Air Quality Criteria for Lead, as described in a [Federal Register Sep 29, 2006].

EPA Scientists have developed a collection of research and guidance on drinking water chemical mixtures to aid the public and scientific community with locating reports, journal publications and information sources on this topic. Health effects and risk assessment information is made available for drinking water chemical mixtures, e.g., pesticides, pharmaceuticals, metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, and disinfection by-products.

EPA is releasing a final report describing the evaluation and applications of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models in health risk assessment. This was announced in the [Federal Register Sep 22, 2006].

EPA is releasing a draft document describing the assessment of the carcinogenicity of ethylene oxide. The release of this document is for the purpose of seeking public comment on the draft assessment and for peer review by EPA's Science Advisory Board. Please see the [Federal Register Sep 22, 2006] for more details about commenting on this document.

EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for review and comment on the draft document, Approaches to Estimating the Waterborne Disease Outbreak Burden in the United States: Uses and Limitations of the Waterborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System(EPA/600/R-06/069). More information on the comment process can be found in the [Federal Register Sep 15, 2006]. Technical comments should be in writing and must be received by EPA by 10/16/06.

This document is the final report from the 2006 external peer review for the IRIS Reassessment of Dibutyl Phthalate, prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). A panel of external peer reviewers met to discuss their responses to the charge questions on July 28, 2006. This document contains the final written comments of the external peer reviewers.

EPA's IRIS Program is announcing that an extension of the public comment period and rescheduling of the external peer review panel teleconference to review the draft document entitled, "Toxicological Review of Dichlorobenzene: In Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)" (EPA/635/R-03/015), was published in the August 11, 2006 Federal Register [FDMS Docket ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2004-0002].

EPA has released a final report entitled, Aging and Toxic Response: Issues Relevant to Risk Assessment. This document contributes to the Agency's efforts to better understand the physiology of aging in order to protect the health of older persons, and identifies several data gaps and research needs that may inform the Office of Research and Development's Research Initiative on Aging in conducting research for better characterize risk to the elderly population from exposure to environmental agents.

Publication: U.S. Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Product Prospectuses (Final)

As a partner Agency in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), EPA announces the release of two Final Prospectuses [Products 4.4 & 4.6] including the public comments for each of the drafts.

EPA is announcing the availability of two revised chapters from the document, Air Quality Criteria For Lead (Second External Review Draft), for public review and comment in a [Federal Register Jul 31, 2006]. The revised Executive Summary and Integrative Sythesis Chapters are now available at the link above.

EPA is releasing an independent external peer review report on the Draft Framework for Assessing Health Risk of Environmental Exposures to Children. EPA is revising the current draft framework in light of the constructive peer review and public comments received and anticipates finalizing the document within the next 2 months.

A provisional assessment on new Particulate Matter (PM) science was provided to EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. This document presents the findings of EPA's survey and provisional assessment of studies relevant to assessing the health effects of PM that were published too recently to be included in the 2004 PM Air Quality Criteria Document. The public availability of this document was announced in a [Federal Register Jul 21, 2006].

EPA's IRIS Program is announcing that an external peer review panel teleconference to review the draft document entitled, Toxicological Review of Dichlorobenzene: In Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) (EPA/635/R-03/015) was published in the [Federal Register Jul 11, 2006], [FDMS Docket ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2004-0002].

Several NCEA Scientists will be presenting at this years Society For Risk Analysis (SRA) Annual Meeting, scheduled for December 3-6, 2005 in Baltimore, MD. The theme this year will be "Risk Analysis in a Dynamic World: Making a Difference."

Agenda links and more information are available.

NCEA's 2006 Science Forum Posters: On May 16-18, 2006, EPA held its 5th annual Science Forum in Washington, DC. The 2006 Forum featured the collaborative efforts of the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

The theme that 40 NCEA science posters presented at this year's Forum pertain to was called "your health, your environment, your future." Now the posters are available from the Science Forum site or by clicking the link above.

EPA's IRIS Program is announcing that an external peer review panel meeting to review the draft document entitled, "Toxicological Review of Dibutyl Phthalate (Di-n-Butyl Phthalate): In Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)" (NCEA-S-1755) was published in the [Federal Register Jun 27, 2006], [FDMS Docket ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2006-0500].

As a partner Agency in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), EPA is announcing the release of two draft prospectuses for public review and comment which EPA is developing under the auspices of the CCSP. The [Federal Register Jun 12, 2006], announcing the thirty day public comment period, was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), another partner agency in the CCSP.

EPA announced the release of the EPA document, Estimation and Application of Macroinvertebrate Tolerance Values, which is a technical review of statistical methods for estimating macroinvertebrate tolerance values from field data. It also reviews different methods for applying tolerance values for assessing biological conditions of streams and rivers and for diagnosing the causes of impairment. The purpose of this document is to provide a technical resource for states, tribes, and regions that wish to use tolerance values to interpret stream biological data.

The Ecological Risk Assessment Support Center (ERASC) recently completed an external review draft of the document titled, Estimation of Biota Sediment Accumulation Factor (BSAF) from Paired Observations of Chemical Concentrations in Biota and Sediment. BSAF is a parameter describing bioaccumulation of sediment-associated organic compounds or metals into tissues of ecological receptors. The draft provides information on methodologies to estimate BSAF for nonionic organic chemicals. This was announced in the [Federal Register Jun 8, 2006].

EPA is announcing the availability the draft document, Air Quality Criteria for Lead (Second External Review Draft), for public review and comment in a [Federal Register May 19, 2006]. At this time all draft chapters are now available for review.

EPA announces the availability of three Final Documents and two External Review Drafts.

EPA is announcing that on June 6-7, 2006 a peer-review work will be held as explained in a [Federal Register May 24, 2006].

EPA is announcing that on June 14th a peer-review teleconference will occur to review "Harmonization in Interspecies Extrapolation: Use of BW 3/4 as Default Method in Derivation of the Oral RfD (External Review Draft)" as explained in the [Federal Register May 23, 2006].

The Ecological Risk Assessment Support Center (ERASC) recently completed an external review draft of the document titled, "Application of Equilibrium Partitioning Theory to Soil PAH Contamination". It addresses the issue of whether equilibrium partitioning techniques can be used to predict the toxicity of PAH mixtures in soil. This was announced in the [Federal Register May 23rd].

EPA's announcement of the IRIS 2006 program agenda, with a corrected list of chemical substances, and request for scientific information on human health effects that may result from exposure to chemical substances was published in the [Federal Register May 19, 2006 ].

EPA is announcing the availability of it's second external review draft of the document, Air Quality Criteria for Lead, for public review and comment in a [Federal Register May 19, 2006]. At this time. all draft chapters are available for review except for the draft Chapter 7: Integrative Synthesis and the Executive Summary. These chapters will be made available as soon as possible, but no later than Wednesday, May 31,2006.

[Update 5/31] Executive Summary and Chapter 7 have been added to the list of downloads.

An independent external peer review meeting on EPA's draft report, 'Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposures to Children', will be hosted by ERG Corportation at the Hyatt Regency Washington Hotel in Washington, DC. Anyone interested in attending this external peer review workshop, should register at https://www2.ergweb.com/projects/conferences/ncea/childhra.htm before May 31, 2006. Register early as seating will be limited.

EPA's Ecological Risk Assessment Support Center (ERASC) recently completed the final document, "Assessing Risks to Populations at Superfund and RCRA Sites: Characterizing Effects on Populations". This document supports performance and interpretation of population-level risk assessments conducted at Superfund and RCRA sites by providing information on issues relevant to characterizing effects on ecological populations.

NCEA is announcing the following 2 high-level career opportunities: a BioStatistician and a Microbial Risk Assessor.

Air Quality Criteria for Sulfur Oxides (SOx) - Call for Comments

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is undertaking to update and revise, where appropriate, the air quality criteria for sulfur oxides (SOx), last addressed in EPA/600/FP-93/002, 'Supplement to the Second Addendum (1986) to Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter and Sulfur Oxides (1982): Assessment of New Findings on Sulfur Dioxide Acute Exposure Health Effects in Asthmatic Individuals', published in August 1994 by the Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Assessment. Interested parties are invited to assist the EPA in developing and refining the scientific information base for updating the Air Quality Criteria for Sulfur Oxides (SOx) by submitting research studies that have been published, accepted for publication, or presented at a public scientific meeting. This was announced in a May 15, 2006 Federal Register Notice.

NCEA announces a new project description for the following vacancy opportunity. The candidate will need to ensure they can fulfill this project description to qualify for the position. The filing deadline is May 22, 2006.

NCEA is announcing an upcoming workshop to review the document titled, Considerations for Developing Alternative Health Risk Assessment Approaches for Addressing Multiple Chemicals, Exposures and Effects; External Review Draft, will occur on May 25 and 26.

NCEA is recruiting for a Microbial Risk Assessor to assist with developing and implementing ORD's research agenda for microbial risk assessment, particularly (1) characterizing environmental exposures of humans to pathogenic microorganisms, (2) characterizing infectivity, virulence, and transmissibility of environmental microbial agents, and (3) characterizing both individual and population susceptibility to diseases caused by environmental microorganisms.

EPA is releasing a final report that describes and demonstrates techniques necessary to extrapolate and incorporate in vitro derived metabolic rate constants in PBPK models. The report includes two case study examples designed to demonstrate the applicability of such data for health risk assessment.

EPA announced the release of the EPA document, Considerations for Developing Alternative Health Risk Assessment Approaches for Addressing Multiple Chemicals, Exposures and Effect (External Review Draft), in the [Federal Register Mar 31, 2006].

EPA announces the release of the summary of the NCEA Colloquium on Current Use and Future Needs of Genomics in Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment (Final Report). This summary report captures the scientific discussion at a May 8, 2003 colloquium, held in Alexandria Virginia, which brought together EPA risk assessors, scientists, and managers who developed genomics techniques to discuss the potential use of genomics data in risk assessments.

EPA announces the availability of EPA's final document, Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Other Photochemical Oxidants, as described in a [Federal Register Feb 28, 2006].

EPA announces the draft document, Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposures to Children Document (2006) in a [Federal Register Mar 14, 2006].

Peer Review Comments: Indicators for the 2007 Draft Report on the Environment (ROE)

EPA announces the latest update on the Indicators for the U.S. EPA's 2007 Report on the Environment (ROE) Technical Document. Originally, the indicators were released in draft in 2005 for both an independent external peer review and a public review and comment period. The ROE-TD Web site contains the peer review comments, EPA's response to the comments, and the revised indicators.

EPA's announcement of IRIS 2006 program agenda and request for scientific information on human health effects that may result from exposure to chemical substances was published in the [Federal Register Feb 23, 2006].

EPA is announcing a 60-day public comment period for the draft document titled, Harmonization in Interspecies Extrapolation: Use of BW^3/4 as Default Method in Derivation of the Oral RfD (EPA/630/R-06/001), which was prepared by the EPAs Risk Assessment Forum (Forum).

Comments on this document ( BW^3/4 ) may be submitted and reviewed using the e-Government Regulations.gov Web site. From the site, select 'Environmental Protection Agency' and the keyword 'ORD-2006-0116' (for the docket ID). Full details on the comment period can be found in the [Federal Register Feb15, 2006].

EPA announces the final document, Guidance on Selecting Groups for Monitoring and Assessing Childhood Exposures to Environmental Contaminants (2005) in a [Federal Register Feb 9, 2006].

IRIS: Toxicological Review of Phosgene [and IRIS Summary]

The Summary of Phosgene has been revised and an updated Toxicological Review has been added to the IRIS Web Site.

EPA announced the final release of the CADDIS I - Casual Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System. CADDIS is an on-line decision support system that helps investigators in the regions, states and tribes find, access, organize, use and share information to produce causal evaluations in aquatic systems.

The National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) seeks immediate applications for several post-doctoral research positions. The deadline for applications is March 20, 2006.

EPA is releasing a summary report on a soil ingestion rate and mouthing behavior colloquium that was held on May 24-25, 2005. The report summarizes the discussions held during the colloquium and contains copies of the presentations from the event. This work was done as part of the Exposure Factors Program.