US EPA

In the interest of resolving scientific questions, the EPA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - members of a broader Interagency Working Group on Perchlorate led by the Office of Science and Technology Policy - referred EPA's Perchlorate Environmental Contamination: Toxicological Review and Risk Characterization (2002 External Peer Review) Draft Report to the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) National Research Council (NRC) for review. The NAS released its response on January 11, 2005.

Based upon this report, the EPA posted the Perchlorate and Perchlorate Salts Summary in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Several documents and other information sources were provided by EPA to the NAS prior to its first meeting on October 27th, 2003. This archival information is made public at this website.

Please note that these documents are made available for archival purposes and are superseded by the 2005 NRC recommendations and EPA's Summary on Perchlorate and Perchlorate Salts, which represents the Agency's current thinking on this subject.

1. Disposition of Comments and Recommendations for Revision to Perchlorate Environmental Contamination: Toxicological Review and Risk Characterization (External Review Draft, January 16, 2002): (PDF, 364 pp, 4 MB, about PDF)
   EPA's 2002 External Review Draft perchlorate health and ecotoxicological risk assessment was submitted to an external expert peer panel for review. That panel's review generated comments (Peer Panel Report, June 2002). As part of the scientific process, EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment submitted its responses to those 2002 peer panel recommendations and public comments to the NAS perchlorate panel.
2. Compilation of Public Comments Received by the U.S. EPA on Perchlorate Environmental Contamination: Toxicological Review and Risk Characterization (2002 External Review Draft):
   This is a complete list of the comments received from the public and stakeholders on EPA's 2002 draft risk assessment report. Their full comments that were submitted to the Agency are included.
3. References Associated with Disposition of Comments on the U.S. EPA's Perchlorate Environmental Contamination: Toxicological Review and Risk Characterization (2002 External Review Draft):
   This is a compilation of those studies and other materials referenced in EPA's disposition of comments report (see #1) that are not readily available in the published literature.
4. Perchlorate Risk Characterization: US EPA Technical Perspective:
   At the first meeting of the NAS perchlorate panel on October 27, 2003, EPA made a presentation (PowerPoint format) on the Agency's 2002 draft health assessment that included some recommendations for revision.

This is the NAS report on Perchlorate completed in 2005.

This is the final report.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES. National Academy Of Sciences (NAS) Review Of The Health Implications Of Perchlorate Ingestion (2005).

Please note that we are making these documents available immediately in the interest of science. These documents may not currently be accessible to those requiring assistive technology devices. Questions concerning these documents may be addressed to the contact person referenced elsewhere on this page. As accessible versions of these documents become available we will replace the existing ones. The content and general nature of the documents will not be changed by the conversion.