US EPA

U.S. EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program has initiated a health assessment for polycylic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) mixtures. Currently, the IRIS database contains entries developed in the early 1990s for 15 non-methylated PAHs with three or more rings. These entries provide assessments of the carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic effects of individual PAHs; however, the IRIS database does not provide assessments for all PAHs with recognized carcinogenic potential, and does not consider issues associated with the environmental occurrence of PAHs as complex mixtures.

Because of the complexity of the scientific literature related to PAH mixtures, the EPA sponsored a two-day peer consultation workshop on October 24-25, 2001 to examine alternative approaches to the health assessment of PAH mixtures. Objectives of the workshop were to generate individual scientific opinions on (1) the extent to which existing approaches to PAH health assessment were supported by the current scientific literature and (2) how well each approach addressed the range of exposure situations and monitoring data encompassed by EPA program offices. The workshop focused on the extensive carcinogenicity literature for PAHs. This report provides a summary of the proceedings of the workshop.

U.S. EPA. Peer Consultation Workshop On Approaches To Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Health Assessment. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Washington Office, Washington, DC, EPA/635/R-02/005, 2002.