[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 38 (Monday, February 28, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9642-9643]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-3792]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7878-5]


Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office SAB Ad Hoc All-Ages 
Lead Model (AALM) Review Panel; Request for Nominations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) 
Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is announcing the formation 
of an ad hoc SAB panel to review the Agency's ``All-Ages Lead Model 
(AALM)'' (hereinafter, the ``Ad Hoc AALM Review Panel'' or ``Panel''), 
and is hereby soliciting nominations for this Panel.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by March 21, 2005 per the 
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact 
Mr. Fred Butterfield, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science 
Advisory Board Staff, at telephone/voice mail: (202) 343-9994; or via 
e-mail at: [email protected]. General information concerning the 
SAB can be found on the EPA Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: The SAB was established by 42 
U.S.C. 4365 to provide independent scientific and technical advice, 
consultation, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the 
technical basis for Agency positions and regulations. The SAB is a 
Federal advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C., App. The Panel will provide 
advice through the chartered SAB, and will comply with the provisions 
of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural policies.
    The SAB Staff Office is forming this SAB panel at the request of 
EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment, Research Triangle 
Park, NC (NCEA-RTP), for the purpose of providing the Agency with 
advice and recommendations on the recently-developed All-Ages Lead 
Model. The AALM will predict lead concentration in body tissues and 
organs for a hypothetical individual, based on a simulated lifetime of 
lead exposure. Statistical methods will be used to extrapolate to a 
population of similarly-exposed individuals. The precursor to the AALM 
was the Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) Model for Lead in 
Children. Version 0.99d of the IEUBK was released in March 1994, and 
has been widely accepted in the risk assessment community as a tool for 
implementing the site-specific risk assessment process when the issue 
is childhood lead exposure. The All-Ages Lead Model has been developed 
to cover older childhood and adult lead exposure. The anticipated 
outcome will be reduced uncertainty in lead exposure assessments for 
adults and children.
    Technical Contact: Any questions concerning either the AALM or the 
IEUBK Model for Lead in Children should be directed to Dr. Robert 
Elias, NCEA-RTP, at phone: (919) 541-4167; or e-mail: 
[email protected]. The draft AALM will be posted on the NCEA Web 
site at: http://www.epa.gov/ncea/ for external review no later than 
June 2005.
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is soliciting public 
nominations of national and international experts in one or more of the 
following areas:
    (1) Lead Exposure Pathway Assessment. Expertise in the physical and 
chemical properties of lead and the biogeochemical processes involved 
in the multimedia pathways leading to human exposure to lead. These 
pathways should include:
    (a) air (both direct inhalation and deposition to surfaces likely 
to be contacted by humans);
    (b) drinking water (from typical sources, including municipal 
distribution systems, commercially bottled water, public drinking water 
systems, and private wells);
    (c) food (including commercial supermarket sources, home gardens 
and recreational and subsistence fishing/hunting); and
    (d) soil/dust ingestion.
    (2) Lead Uptake/Absorption. Expertise in the process of the human 
uptake and/or absorption of lead from oral and/or inhalation intake.
    (3) Internal Biokinetic Distribution of Lead. Expertise on the 
human physiological processes concerning the distribution, mechanisms 
of transport, accumulation, concentrations at the organ/tissue level, 
residence times (or other measures of potential impact), and 
elimination of absorbed lead.
    (4) Human Growth and Activity Patterns. Expertise on growth 
patterns and typical human activity patterns from prenatal to elderly, 
including recreational, occupational, leisurely, household activities. 
This would include knowledge of published studies and other modeling 
applications.
    (5) Exposure and Risk Assessment Modeling. Experience in relating a 
lifetime of human exposure to a potential health outcome, and the 
quantification of risk related to this health outcome.
    (6) Statistical Treatment of Data Input and Model Output, and Model 
Code. Expertise in assessing the quality of data typically used for 
model input or the quality of probabilistic input data sets generated 
by models. Expertise in assessing the statistical interpretation and 
presentation of model outputs. Expertise in computer programming 
language; specifically, C++ using XML data format.
    Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested 
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals to add 
expertise to the Ad Hoc AALM Review Panel in the areas of expertise 
described above. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format 
through the SAB Nomination Form which can be accessed through a link on 
the blue navigational bar on the SAB Web site, at URL: http://www.epa.gov/sab. To be considered, all nominations must include the 
information required on that form.
    Anyone who is unable to submit nominations using this form or has 
any questions concerning any aspects of the nomination process may 
contact Mr. Fred Butterfield, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. 
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than March 
21, 2005.
    To be considered, all nominations must include: (a) A current 
biography, curriculum vitae (C.V.) or resume, which provides the 
nominee's background, experience and qualifications for the Panel; and 
(b) a brief biographical sketch (``biosketch''). The biosketch should 
be no longer than one page and must contain the following information 
for the nominee:
    (i) Current professional affiliations and positions held;
    (ii) Area(s) of expertise, and research activities and interests;
    (iii) Leadership positions in national associations or professional 
publications or other significant distinctions;
    (iv) Educational background, especially advanced degrees, including 
when and from which institutions these were granted;

[[Page 9643]]

    (v) Service on other advisory committees, professional societies, 
especially those associated with issues under discussion in this 
review; and
    (vi) Sources of recent (i.e., within the preceding two years) grant 
and/or other contract support, from government, industry, academia, 
etc., including the topic area of the funded activity.
    Please note that even if there is no responsive information (e.g., 
no recent grant or contract funding), this must be indicated on the 
biosketch (by ``N/A'' or ``None''). Incomplete biosketches will result 
in nomination packages not being accepted.
    The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of the 
nomination. From the nominees identified by respondents to this notice 
(termed the ``Widecast''), the SAB Staff Office will develop a smaller 
subset (known as the ``Short List'') for more detailed consideration. 
Criteria used by the SAB Staff in developing this Short List are given 
at the end of the following paragraph. The Short List will be posted on 
the SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab, and will include, for each 
candidate, the nominee's name and their biosketch. Public comments will 
be accepted for 21 calendar days on the Short List. During this comment 
period, the public will be requested to provide information, analysis 
or other documentation on nominees that the SAB Staff Office should 
consider in evaluating candidates for the Panel.
    For the EPA SAB Staff Office, a balanced subcommittee or review 
panel is characterized by inclusion of candidates who possess the 
necessary domains of knowledge, the relevant scientific perspectives 
(which, among other factors, can be influenced by work history and 
affiliation), and the collective breadth of experience to adequately 
address the charge. Public responses to the Short List candidates will 
be considered in the selection of the Panel, along with information 
provided by candidates and information independently-gathered by the 
SAB Staff Office on the background of each candidate (e.g., financial 
disclosure information and computer searches to evaluate a nominee's 
prior involvement with the topic under review). Specific criteria to be 
used in evaluating an individual Panel member include: (a) Scientific 
and/or technical expertise, knowledge, and experience (primary 
factors); (b) availability and willingness to serve; (c) absence of 
financial conflicts of interest; (d) absence of an appearance of a lack 
of impartiality; and (e) skills working in committees, subcommittees 
and advisory panels; and, for the Panel as a whole, (f) diversity of, 
and balance among, scientific expertise, viewpoints, etc. Members of 
the SAB Ad Hoc AALM Review Panel will likely be asked to attend one 
public, face-to-face meeting and no more than two public teleconference 
meetings over the anticipated life of the Panel.
    Prospective candidates will also be required to fill-out the 
``Confidential Financial Disclosure Form for Special Government 
Employees Serving on Federal Advisory Committees at the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency'' (EPA Form 3110-48). This confidential 
form allows Government officials to determine whether there is a 
statutory conflict between that person's public responsibilities (which 
includes membership on an EPA Federal advisory committee) and private 
interests and activities, or the appearance of a lack of impartiality, 
as defined by Federal regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded 
from the following URL address: http://www.epa.gov/sab/sge_course/pdf_sge/epaform3110_48.pdf.
    The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects 
subcommittees and review panels is described in the following document: 
Overview of the Panel Formation Process at the Environmental Protection 
Agency Science Advisory Board (EPA-SAB-EC-02-010), which is posted on 
the SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf.

    Dated: February 18, 2005.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 05-3792 Filed 2-25-05; 8:45 am]
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