[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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