Meetings: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mixtures, health assessment; alternative approaches; peer consultation workshop,

[Federal Register: October 3, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 192)]

[Notices]

[Page 50429-50430]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr03oc01-59]

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7072-6]

Peer Consultation Workshop on Alternative Approaches to the Health Assessment of PAH Mixtures

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of peer consultation workshop.

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a workshop for scientific peer consultation on alternative approaches to the health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) mixtures. The workshop is sponsored by EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment of the Office of Research and Development. Versar, Inc., an EPA contractor, is providing logistical support for the workshop. The individual scientific opinions of the experts participating in the workshop will be taken into consideration by EPA when developing the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for PAH mixtures.

DATES: The workshop will be held on Wednesday, October 24, 2001, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursday, October 25, 2001, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the Key Bridge Marriott, 1401 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA. Versar, Inc., an EPA contractor, is providing logistical support for the workshop. To attend the workshop as an observer, visit www.versar.com/pahrisk/ and register by October 19, 2001. Space is limited, and reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be a limited time for comments from the public during the workshop. Please let Versar know if you wish to make a brief statement not to exceed five minutes.

EPA has prepared a discussion document, ``Workshop on Approaches to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Health Assessment: Discussion Document,'' to provide experts participating in the workshop background information on current EPA practices for assessing PAH health risk and an overview of alternative approaches to health assessment for PAH mixtures. A copy of this document is available from Versar.

Comments related to PAH health assessment approaches may be mailed to Susan Rieth, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (8601D), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460 or delivered to Susan Rieth, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 808 17th St, NW., Washington, DC 20006. Electronic comments may be emailed to rieth.susan@epa.gov.

Please note that all comments received in response to this notice will be public information. For that reason, commentors should not submit personal information (such as medical data or home address), Confidential Business Information, or information protected by copyright. Due to limited resources, acknowledgments will not be sent.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information concerning the peer consultation workshop please contact Traci Bludis, Versar, Inc.; telephone: 1-800-2-VERSAR ext 449; email: bluditra@versar.com. For technical inquiries, please contact Susan Rieth,

[[Page 50430]]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (8601D), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone 202-564-1532; facsimile 202-565- 0075; email rieth.susan@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At the request of several EPA program offices, the EPA IRIS Program is undertaking a health assessment for PAHs. The IRIS Program develops EPA consensus scientific positions on potential human health effects that may result from chronic exposure to chemical substances found in the environment; assessments for approximately 540 chemical substances can be found in the IRIS database (66 FR 11165).

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 other PAHs with carcinogenic potential (e.g., ``supercarcinogens,'' methylated PAHs, etc.), and does not consider issues associated with the environmental occurrence of PAHs as complex mixtures.

The initiation of the IRIS PAH assessment follows closely on the release of the EPA Risk Assessment Forum's Supplementary Guidance for Conducting Health Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures (EPA/630/R-00/ 002), which sets forth EPA's risk assessment paradigm for mixtures. The framework for chemical mixture assessment provided in the supplemental guidance will be applied in the current IRIS effort.

Because of the complexity of the scientific literature related to PAH mixtures, the EPA is sponsoring a two-day peer consultation workshop with experts in PAH toxicology and chemistry and the assessment of chemical mixtures to examine alternative approaches to the health assessment of PAH mixtures. Because information needed to support development of a mixtures approach for assessing the noncancer effects of PAHs is limited or lacking, it is expected that the workshop will largely focus on the extensive carcinogenicity literature for PAHs.

Objectives of the workshop will be to generate individual scientific opinions on (1) the extent to which each of the alternative approaches to PAH health assessment is supported by the current scientific literature and (2) how well each approach addresses the range of exposure situations and monitoring data encompassed by EPA program offices. The individual expert opinions and recommendations generated in this workshop will be taken into consideration by EPA in developing an appropriate and scientifically defensible health assessment procedure(s) for inclusion in the IRIS assessment for PAHs.

Dated: September 26, 2001. Art Payne, Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.

[FR Doc. 01-24718Filed10-2-01; 8:45 am]

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