[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 7, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 920-921]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-323]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7608-1]
Analysis of Laboratory and Field Studies of Reproductive Toxicity
in Birds Exposed to Dioxin-Like Compounds for Use in Ecological Risk
Assessment
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of a final report
titled, Analysis of Laboratory and Field Studies of Reproductive
Toxicity in Birds Exposed to Dioxin-Like Compounds for Use in
Ecological Risk Assessment (EPA/600/R-03/114F), which was prepared by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Center for
Environmental Assessment (NCEA) of the Office of Research and
Development (ORD).
DATES: This document will be available on or about January 7, 2004.
ADDRESSES: The document will be made available electronically through
the NCEA Web site (http://www.epa.gov/ncea). A limited number of paper
copies will be available from the EPA's National Service Center for
Environmental Publications (NSCEP), P.O. Box 42419, Cincinnati, OH
45242; telephone: 1-800-490-9198 or 513-489-8190; facsimile: 513-489-
8695. Please provide your name, your mailing address, the title and the
EPA number of the requested publication.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Technical Information Staff,
National Center for Environmental Assessment/Cincinnati Office (MS-
117), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 W. Martin Luther King
Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45268. Telephone: 513-569-7257; fax: 513-569-
7475; e-mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Coplanar PCBs and other dioxin-like
chemicals are common environmental contaminants and risks to wildlife
are a significant issue as demonstrated by
[[Page 921]]
observed reproductive effects on birds and other wildlife. However, a
number of scientific and technical issues are involved in performing
the needed assessments such as the proper treatment of mixtures,
identification of the critical effects, and proper exposure metrics.
This report explains the proper use of data for individual congeners
and identifies developmental effects from in ovo exposures as the
proper endpoint. It also deals with the problem of evaluating a large
and heterogeneous literature by identifying a set of appropriate avian
toxicity data. Another assessment issue is the lack of a standard or
generally accepted method for modeling effects on wildlife or
calculating screening benchmarks. This problem is exacerbated by the
fact that wildlife test methods are not well standardized, except in
pesticide registration. Hence, although there is a plethora of test
data for dioxin-like chemicals and wildlife, relatively little of it
was suitable for assessment. Finally, the chronic data were not as
useful as they could have been, because test results in the literature
were nearly always expressed as statistically significant
concentrations rather than biological effects levels. The report
presents alternative ways to deal with these issues.
Dated: December 23, 2003.
Peter W. Preuss, Director,
National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 04-323 Filed 1-6-04; 8:45 am]
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