US EPA

In April 2020, the Ecological Risk Assessment Forum (ERAF) submitted a request to the Ecological Risk Assessment Support Center (ERASC) to provide a review of ERASC Memorandum: Response to Ecological Risk Assessment Forum Request for Information on The Benefits of PCB Congener-Specific Analyses NCEA-C-1315, ERASC-002F, developed in March 2005. Specifically, a review was needed to 1) ensure that the memorandum reflects the latest state of the science, and 2) update the information as necessary.

Results of analyses for PCB contamination on environmental matrices may be expressed in terms of PCB congener-specific, total PCB, and Aroclor equivalent concentrations. Given the cost ramifications and potential overlap in results from each analysis, should expressing results in terms of all three types of analyses be our standard approach? The product of this work, a few-page document updating the information in the 2005 ERASC publication, is designed to assist risk assessment practitioners to choose, in a cost-efficient manner, analyses that meet the objectives of the assessment.

This is the final report.

U.S. EPA. Update on the Benefits of PCB Congener-Specific Analyses. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-21/237, 2021.