[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 197 (Thursday, October 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60143-60144]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-16921]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8230-7; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2006-0756]
Evaluation of the Carcinogenicity of Ethylene Oxide
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period.
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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing an extension of the public comment period
for the draft document titled, ``Evaluation of the Carcinogenicity of
Ethylene Oxide'' (EPA/635/R-06/003). The document was prepared by the
National Center for Environmental Assessment within EPA's Office of
Research and Development. On September 22, EPA published a Federal
Register notice (71 FR 55470) announcing a 30-day comment period that
ends October 23, 2007. EPA is extending the public comment period to
December 8, 2006, in response to requests.
As previously stated in 71 FR 55470, EPA is releasing this draft
document solely for the purpose of seeking public comment and for
review by the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) via a meeting to be held
at a later date (time and place to be specified in a separate Federal
Register notice). This document has not been formally disseminated by
EPA. It does not determination. EPA will consider any public comments
submitted in accordance with this notice when revising the document.
DATES: The public comment period began September 22, 2006, and ends
December 8, 2006. Technical comments should be in writing and must be
received by EPA by December 8, 2006.
ADDRESSES: The draft ``Evaluation of the Carcinogenicity of Ethylene
Oxide'' is available primarily via the Internet on the National Center
for Environmental Assessment's home page under the Recent Additions and
the Data and Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited
number of paper copies are available from the Technical Information
Staff, NCEA-W; telephone: 202-564-3261; facsimile: 202-565-0050. If you
are requesting a paper copy, please provide your name, your mailing
address, and the document title, ``Evaluation of the Carcinogenicity of
Ethylene Oxide''.
Comments may be submitted electronically via www.regulations.gov,
by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. Please follow the
detailed instructions provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
of this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment
period, contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket;
telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail:
[email protected].
For technical information, contact Henry D. Kahn, D.Sc., NCEA;
telephone: 202-564-3269; facsimile: 202-565-0079; or e-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project/Document
Ethylene oxide (EtO) is a gas at room temperature. It is
manufactured from ethylene and used primarily as a chemical
intermediate in the manufacture of ethylene glycol. It is also used as
a sterilizing agent for medical equipment and as a fumigating agent for
spices. The largest sources of human exposure are in occupations
involving contact with the gas in production facilities and in
hospitals that sterilize medical equipment. EtO can also be inhaled by
residents living near production or sterilizing/fumigating facilities.
This draft assessment document characterizes the potential for a
carcinogenic health hazard from human inhalation exposure to EtO. This
is accomplished by a weight-of-evidence evaluation as to how likely EtO
is to be a human carcinogen, as well as an evaluation of related dose-
response information which leads to the development of lifetime cancer
risk estimates per unit of exposure. This assessment, when finalized,
will be posted to EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
database. The document was prepared by EPA's National Center for
Environmental Assessment (NCEA). EPA last published a health assessment
of the potential carcinogenicity of EtO in 1985.
The current assessment reviews the more recently developed database
on the carcinogenicity of EtO, pertinent data from the 1985 assessment,
and several reviews and assessments issued
[[Page 60144]]
by other organizations (IARC, 1994; Health Canada, 2001; CalEPA, 1999;
EOIC, 2001).
II. How to Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at
www.regulations.gov
Note: The EPA Docket Center suffered damage due to flooding
during the last week of June 2006. The Docket Center is continuing
to operate. However, during the cleanup, there will be temporary
changes to Docket Center telephone numbers, addresses, and hours of
operation for people who wish to make hand deliveries or visit the
Public Reading Room to view documents. Consult EPA's Federal
Register notice at 71 FR 38147 (July 5, 2006) or the EPA Web site at
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm for current information on
docket operations, locations and telephone numbers. The Docket
Center's mailing address for U.S. mail and the procedure for
submitting comments to www.regulations.gov are not affected by the
flooding and will remain the same.
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD 2006-
0756 by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected].
Fax: 202-566-1753
Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-
566-1752.
Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, 1301 Constitution Ave.,
NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal
holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is 202-566-
1744. Such deliveries are only accepted during the docket's normal
hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for
deliveries of boxed information.
If you submit comments by mail or hand delivery, please submit one
unbound original with pages numbered consecutively, and three copies of
the comments. For attachments, provide an index, number pages
consecutively with the comments, and submit an unbound original and
three copies.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2006-0756. Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the
specified comment period. Comments received after the closing date will
be marked ``late,'' and may only be considered if time permits. It is
EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in the public docket
without change and to make the comments available online at
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided,
unless a comment includes information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or e-mail.
The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system,
which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information
unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-
mail comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov,
your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part
of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available
on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends
that you include your name and other contact information in the body of
your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read
your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional
information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other materials,
such as copyrighted material, are publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: October 4, 2006.
Peter W. Preuss,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E6-16921 Filed 10-11-06; 8:45 am]
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