[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 219 (Monday, November 15, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69662-69664]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-28665]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9225-9; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2010-0927]
Workshop: Cumulative Mixtures Risk of Six Selected Phthalates in
Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information
System (IRIS)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of Peer Consultation Workshop on the Cumulative Mixtures
Risk of Six Selected Phthalates; Request for Public Comments.
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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing that ICF International, an EPA contractor
for external scientific peer consultation, will convene a panel of
independent experts and conduct an external peer consultation workshop
to: (1) Review the recommendations for evaluation of the cumulative
mixtures risk of phthalates as set forth in the National Academies of
Science (NAS) report ``Phthalates and Cumulative Risk Assessment: The
Tasks Ahead'' (2008); and (2) propose additional methods and
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approaches, not already captured in the 2008 NAS report, that may
facilitate the assessment of risk(s) associated with exposure to
cumulative mixtures of the six selected phthalates.
ICF International invites all interested public parties to register
to attend this workshop as observers. Space is limited, and
reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. In
addition, ICF International invites the public to give brief oral
comments at the conclusion of each workshop day. Furthermore, there is
an opportunity to provide written comments regarding the subject matter
under discussion; for more information please see below. In
conceptualizing and preparing a draft of the ``Toxicological Review of
the Cumulative Mixtures Risk of Six Selected Phthalates,'' EPA will
consider ICF's report of the comments and recommendations from
individuals participating in the external peer consultation workshop
and any written public comments that EPA receives in accordance with
this notice.
DATES: The peer consultation workshop on the Cumulative Mixtures Risk
of Six Selected Phthalates will be held on December 8 and 9, 2010,
beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Please
note that a public comment period begins November 15, 2010 and ends
January 4, 2011. Technical comments should be in writing and must be
received by the EPA by January 4, 2011.
ADDRESSES: The peer consultation workshop on the Cumulative Mixtures
Risk of Six Selected Phthalates will be held at the Double Tree Crystal
City, located at 300 Army Navy Drive in Arlington, VA. To attend the
workshop, register no later than December 3, 2010, preferably via the
workshop Web site page at http://epa.phthalatesworkshop.icfi.com.
Alternatively, you may register by calling ICF International at 1-703-
934-3173, sending a facsimile to 1-703-934-3470, or sending an e-mail
to Ms. Ami Parekh Gordon at [email protected].
Additional Information: EPA welcomes public attendance at the
``Peer Consultation Workshop on Cumulative Mixtures Risk of Six
Selected Phthalates'' and will make every effort to accommodate persons
with disabilities. For information on access or services for
individuals with disabilities, or if you have any other questions
related to this workshop please contact Ms. Ami Parekh Gordon of ICF
International at [email protected] or by phone at 1-703-934-3173.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About IRIS
EPA's IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates
quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that may
result from exposure to chemical substances found in the environment.
Through the IRIS Program, EPA provides the highest quality science-
based human health assessments to support the Agency's regulatory
activities. The IRIS database contains information for more than 550
chemical substances that can be used to support the first two steps
(hazard identification and dose-response evaluation) of the risk
assessment process. When supported by available data, IRIS provides
oral reference doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference concentrations
(RfCs) for chronic noncancer health effects and cancer assessments.
Combined with specific exposure information, government and private
entities use IRIS to help characterize public health risks of chemical
substances in a site-specific situation and thereby support risk
management decisions designed to protect public health.
The IRIS cumulative assessment will address the specific
recommendations presented in the NAS report on cumulative risk for
phthalates and expand the discussion to other approaches that may also
be applicable. The 2008 NAS report recommended that:
[cir] EPA group chemicals that cause common adverse outcomes and
not focus exclusively on structural similarity or on similar mechanisms
of action, and
[cir] Phthalates and other agents that cause androgen insufficiency
or block androgen-receptor signaling, and are thus capable of inducing
effects that characterize components of the phthalate syndrome, should
be considered in a cumulative risk assessment.
In response to NAS recommendations, EPA is conducting research to:
(1) Determine whether prenatal exposures to phthalates are associated
with adverse effects in male and female offspring; (2) determine how
phthalates interact in mixtures with other phthalates, toxic
substances, and pesticides to induce adverse effects, in particular
disruption of reproductive development in males and females; and (3)
determine approaches to integrate new data on multiple phthalates into
a cumulative mixtures assessment.
II. How To Submit Comments to the Docket at http://www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2010-
0927, by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected].
Facsimile: 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 telephone number is
202-566-1752. If you provide comments by mail, 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.
Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 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. 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 provide comments by
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-
2010-0927. 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 http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided,
unless comments include 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 http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The
http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system,
which
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means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you
provide it in the body of your comments. If you send e-mail comments
directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your
e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of
the comments that are placed in the public docket and made available on
the Internet. If you submit electronic comments, EPA recommends that
you include your name and other contact information in the body of your
comments and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read
your comments due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comments.
Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters and 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: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://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 material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
at http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the
EPA Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: November 8, 2010.
Darrell A. Winner,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2010-28665 Filed 11-12-10; 8:45 am]
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