[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 208 (Monday, October 28, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 65791]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-27491]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7401-7]


Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of workshop.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National 
Center for Environmental Assessment, within the Agency's Office of 
Research and Development, is announcing a Workshop on GAM-Related 
Statistical Issues in Particulate Matter (PM) Epidemiology. The 
workshop is open to the public.

DATES: The workshop will begin on November 4, 2002, at 8:45 a.m. and 
will conclude on November 6, at 4 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel, 
4700 Emperor Boulevard, Durham, North Carolina 27703. Logistics for the 
workshop are being arranged by Science Applications International 
Corporation (SAIC), an EPA contractor. The public is invited to attend 
the workshop. Persons wanting to register for the GAM workshop may do 
so at the following Web site http://www.cvent.com. The event code is 
EPHVP19M8U.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For workshop information, 
registration, and logistics, contact Alina Martin, Science Applications 
International Corporation, 11251 Roger Bacon Drive, Reston, VA 20190; 
telephone: 703-318-4678; facsimile:703-736-0826; or e-mail at 
[email protected].
    For technical information, contact Dr. Robert Elias, U.S. EPA, 
NCEA-RTP, B243-01, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; telephone: 919-
541-4167; facsimile: 919-541-1818; or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The workshop, which is being organized in 
coordination with the Health Effects Institute (HEI), is being held to 
provide a forum (open to the public) for discussion of: (a) Newly 
identified issues related to the conduct of General Additive Model 
(GAM) analyses, using commercially available software packages (e.g., 
S-plus or SAS), in time-series studies of relationships between ambient 
air particulate matter (PM) and mortality/morbidity endpoints (e.g., 
daily deaths, hospital admissions); (b) progress made to date in the 
conduct of reanalyses of a group of GAM-related studies identified by 
EPA as being of high priority for policy considerations (see 
www.epa.gov/ncea/partmatt.htm for more information); and (c) additional 
considerations for future directions for new PM epidemiologic analyses. 
After the workshop, participating investigators will have the 
opportunity to modify preliminary reanalyses presented at the workshop 
to take into account the workshop discussions and to submit to EPA 
written ``short communications'' conveying key information on the 
reanalyses and their outcomes. Those short communications are to be 
peer-reviewed by an HEI-assembled panel of experts and then included in 
an HEI Report, to be made available in early 2003. The peer-reviewed 
reanalyses in the HEI Report will be considered by NCEA-RTP staff in 
preparing revised draft chapters bearing on PM epidemiology studies for 
inclusion in a Fourth External Review Draft of EPA's Air Quality 
Criteria Document for PM to be released next spring for public comment 
(60 days) and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) review at 
a public meeting in mid-summer 2003. The final version of the PM 
Criteria Document will ultimately provide key scientific bases for the 
now ongoing Congressionally mandated periodic review of the PM National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards (PM NAAQS).
    A detailed agenda for the meeting will be made available via the 
above-listed Web site or contact person.

    Dated: October 22, 2002.
Art Payne,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 02-27491 Filed 10-28-02; 8:45 am]
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