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Provisional Advisory Levels (PALs) for HazardousAgents - Tech Brief
Citation:
ADESHINA, F. Provisional Advisory Levels (PALs) for HazardousAgents - Tech Brief. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/S-08/022, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
see above
Description:
Tech Brief - Provisional Advisory Levels support risk-based decision making -- There is growing concern that hazardous substances released because of a terrorist attack may contaminate people and places. However, there is little appropriate health-based guidance for building or outdoor site re-entry or for resumed use of water resources, as might be needed after a large-scale disaster. EPA is, therefore, developing health-based provisional advisory values for high priority hazardous chemicals and chemical warfare agents in air and drinking water. PALs are a tiered set of values used in conducting threat scenario health risk assessments and for developing risk-based cleanup levels that will assist with the return to normal operations. These values will help support risk-based decision-making. The primary goals of EPA’s PALs program are to develop scientifically valid PAL values for use after terrorist or natural disaster incidents and to provide health-based information for national emergency planning, preparedness, prevention, and response.