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OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ON DEFINED AND COMPLEX MIXTURES OF DISINFECTION BYPRODUCTS
Citation:
SIMMONS, J. E. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ON DEFINED AND COMPLEX MIXTURES OF DISINFECTION BYPRODUCTS . Presented at Federal-State Toxicology and Risk Analysis Committee Meeting, Durham, NC, October 17 - 19, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation will provide an overview of several research projects jointly planned and conducted by scientists residing within the various organizations of the US. EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD). Their common purpose is an improved understanding of the potential health effects from exposure to DBPs that cannot be addressed directly from toxicological studies of individual DBPs.
Description:
Decreased morbidity and mortality from water-borne diseases are a direct result of water disinfection. Concurrent with these important public health benefits is low-level, chronic exposure to a very large number of disinfection byproducts (DBPs), chemicals formed as a result of reactions between the oxidizing chemicals used to disinfect water and the naturally occurring and anthropogenic inorganic and organic material in the source water. This presentation will provide an overview of several research projects jointly planned and conducted by scientists residing within the various organizations of the US. EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD). Their common purpose is an improved understanding of the potential health effects from exposure to DBPs that cannot be addressed directly from toxicological studies of individual DBPs. The Multi-Purpose Design Study examined defined mixtures of the four regulated trihalomethanes. Analyses of the mixture data were supportive of a conclusion of additive toxicity as few statistically significant deviations from additivity were detected. The Integrated Disinfection ByProduct Mixture Research Program (EPA’s 4Lab Study) provides coordinated, comprehensive chemical and toxicological evaluation of environmentally realistic complex mixtures of DBPs, with emphasis on reproductive/developmental endpoints. Innovative methods and techniques developed by the 4Lab Study Team, results from the first two phases and a progress report on the third phase will be presented. (This abstract does not reflect EPA policy.)