US EPA

In January 2018, EPA released the Systematic Review Protocol for the Chloroform IRIS Assessment (Inhalation). As part of developing a draft IRIS assessment, EPA presents a methods document, referred to as the protocol, for conducting a chemical-specific systematic review of the available scientific literature. Protocols include strategies for literature searches, criteria for study inclusion or exclusion, considerations for evaluating study methods, information management for extracting data, approaches for synthesis within and across lines of evidence, and methods for derivation of toxicity values.

Chloroform (trichloromethane) is a colorless, volatile liquid with a distinct odor. Chloroform is nonflammable. It is slightly soluble in water and is readily miscible with most organic solvents. Because chloroform is relatively volatile, it tends to escape from contaminated environmental media (e.g., water or soil) into air, and may also be released in vapor form from some types of industrial or chemical operations.

Therefore, humans may be exposed to chloroform not only by ingestion of chloroform in drinking water, food, or soil, but also by dermal contact with contaminated media (especially water) and by inhalation of vapor (especially in indoor air).

This document presents a draft assessment plan for chloroform that will be the subject of an SAB/Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee meeting in September 2017 and that will define the scope and approach of the IRIS assessment for chloroform.

The IRIS Program will use the systematic review protocol to develop the draft assessment.

U.S. EPA. Systematic Review Protocol For The IRIS Chloroform Assessment (Inhalation) (Preliminary Assessment Materials). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/635/R-17/486, 2018.