[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 88 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24925-24926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12021]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-400112; FRL-5717-9]


Ethylene Glycol; Risk Assessment Peer Review

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: EPA is giving notice of its ongoing peer review process for 
evaluating its risk assessment for ethylene glycol, and announcing that 
it will include in this process an external peer review. The external 
peer review will be an open process that will include stakeholders and 
other interested parties. EPA is also soliciting relevant information 
that will aid this peer review process.

DATES: Information should be submitted by [Insert date 60 days from 
date of publication in the Federal Register].

ADDRESSES: Submitted information should be provided in triplicate to: 
OPPT Docket Clerk, TSCA Document Receipt Office (7407), Office of 
Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M 
St., SW., Rm. G-099, Washington, DC 20460, Attention: Docket Control 
Number OPPTS-400112.
    Information claimed as confidential must be clearly marked as 
confidential business information (CBI). If CBI is claimed, three 
additional sanitized copies must also be submitted. Nonconfidential 
versions of information on this notice will be placed in the public 
record and will be available for public inspection. The public record 
is available for inspection from noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
excluding legal holidays. The public record is located in the TSCA 
Nonconfidential Information Center, Rm. NE-B607, 401 M St., SW., 
Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vanessa Vu, Director, Risk Assessment 
Division (7403), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460, 
Telephone: 202-260-3442.

 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Elsewhere in today's Federal Register, EPA 
is announcing the results of its review of ethylene glycol for purposes 
of its continued listing as a toxic chemical under section 313 of the 
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C 
11023. While EPA believes the risk assessment in the EPCRA notice is 
sufficient for use in the listing evaluation discussed in that notice, 
it may not be adequate for other purposes such as standard setting. For 
purposes of making listing decisions under section 313, EPCRA does not 
require EPA to perform formal risk assessments. Therefore, when EPA 
considers exposure, a screening-level risk assessment such as that in 
the EPCRA notice is sufficient. Whether such a risk assessment is 
adequate for other purposes must be determined on a case-by-case basis 
pursuant to the applicable statutory or regulatory authority.
    Persons interested in ethylene glycol should be aware that EPA is 
continuing the refinement of its ethylene glycol risk assessment. In 
response to EPA's Risk Characterization Policy (Carol M. Browner, EPA 
Administrator, EPA Risk Characterization Program, March 21, 1995) the 
Agency's Science Policy Council (SPC), a group of senior risk managers 
and risk assessors, is sponsoring a series of colloquia to provide 
internal peer review of several EPA risk assessments as case studies, 
including the one for ethylene glycol. These colloquia bring together 
risk assessors and risk managers to discuss the quality of the 
assessments, and to suggest ways to improve the presentation of the 
characterization of risk. The risk assessments chosen for this process 
are in the last stages of the internal EPA review.
    After the internal peer review process is complete, the SPC plans 
to have a number of these case studies externally peer-reviewed. 
Although the SPC has not yet finalized the procedures for the external 
peer review process, it is clear that the review will be an open 
process that will include stakeholders and other interested parties. As 
part of this process, EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic 
Substances (OPPTS) will submit the assessment for ethylene glycol for 
external peer review.
    EPA will issue another Federal Register notice that provides 
specific details about the external peer review process for the 
ethylene glycol risk assessment. As a general matter, the scientific 
peer review will address the strength of the hazard and risk 
conclusions and the reasonableness of policy decisions and assumptions 
used in the risk assessment process.
    EPA is encouraging anyone with information relevant to the above 
issues (or other aspects of the ethylene glycol risk assessment) to 
submit that information to the address listed under the ADDRESSES unit 
by (Insert date 60 days from date of publication in the Federal 
Register). Having the information in advance will assist in the 
preparations for an efficient and effective external peer review.

[[Page 24926]]

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection.

    Dated: May 5, 1997.
Lynn R. Goldman,
Assistant Administrator for Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic 
Substances.
[FR Doc. 97-12021 Filed 5-6-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F