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Framework for Assessing Health Risk of Environmental Exposure to Children (2006, External Review Draft)
Update: EPA is releasing the notes and comments (see Downloads) from the June 6-7, 2006 independently run peer-review workshop as announced in a May 24, 2006 Federal Register Notice.
EPA announced the draft document, Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposures to Children Document (2006) in a March 14, 2006 Federal Register Notice.
Citation:
Framework for Assessing Health Risk of Environmental Exposure to Children (2006, External Review Draft). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
Impact/Purpose:
The draft document, Framework For Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposure to Children, can serve as a resource on children's health risk assessment and it addresses the need to provide a comprehensive and consistent framework for considering children in risk assessments at EPA.
Description:
The draft document, Framework For Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposure to Children, can serve as a resource on children's health risk assessment and it addresses the need to provide a comprehensive and consistent framework for considering children in risk assessments at EPA. This framework lays out the process, points to existing published sources for more detailed information on life stage-specific considerations, and includes web links to specific on-line publications and relevant Agency science policy papers, guidelines and guidance. The document emphasizes the need to take into account the potential exposures to environmental agents during preconception and all stages of development and focuses on the relevant adverse health outcomes that may occur as a result of such exposures. This draft report will be externally peer-reviewed in the next three or four months by an independent panel of experts prior to making the report final.
Major findings and conclusions: The draft report outlines the framework in which mode of action(s) (MOA) can be considered across life stages. The framework is based upon existing approaches adopted in the Framework on Cumulative Risk Assessment and identifies existing guidance, guidelines and policy papers that relate to children's health risk assessment. It also emphasizes the importance of an iterative approach between hazard, dose response, and exposure analyses.
Key science/assessment issues: The draft framework addresses the questions of why and how an improved children's health risk assessment will strengthen the overall risk assessment process across the Agency. This approach improves the scientific explanation of children's risk and will add value by: 1) providing for a more complete evaluation of the potential for vulnerability at different life stages, including a focus on the underlying biological events and critical developmental periods for incorporating MOA considerations; 2) evaluating of the potential for toxicity after exposure during all developmental life stages; and 3) integrating of adverse health effects and exposure information across life stages.
URLs/Downloads:
A Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposures to Children (Draft) (PDF, 130 pp, 1227 KB, about PDF)External Peer Review Panel Meeting Charge Questions (PDF, 2 pp, 17 KB, about PDF)
FR NOTICE: MAY 24, 2006
FR NOTICE: MARCH 14, 2006
External Peer Review Meeting for Draft Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposures to Children June 6-7, 2006 (PDF, 117 pp, 858 KB, about PDF)