[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 14, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13125-13126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-2436]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8044-6; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2006-0134]


A Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposures 
to Children

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of public comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a 
45-day public comment period for the external review draft document 
titled, ``A Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental 
Exposures to Children'' (EPA/600/R-05/093A). The draft document was 
prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) 
within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD).
    For external scientific peer review, EPA has hired Eastern Research 
Group, Inc. (ERG) to convene an independent panel of experts and 
organize and conduct an external peer-review workshop. The date and 
location for the external peer-review workshop will be announced in a 
separate Federal Register notice, once that information is obtained by 
EPA. The public comment period and the external peer-review workshop 
are separate processes that provide opportunities for all interested 
parties to comment on the document. In addition to consideration by 
EPA, all public comments submitted in accordance with this notice will 
also be forwarded to ERG for the external peer-review panel prior to 
the workshop.
    EPA is releasing this external review draft document solely for the 
purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information 
quality guidelines. This draft document has not been formally 
disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be construed 
to represent any Agency policy or determination.

DATES: The 45-day public comment period begins March 14, 2006, and ends 
April 28, 2006. Technical comments should be in writing and must be 
received by EPA by April 28, 2006.

ADDRESSES: The draft document and EPA's peer-review charge are 
available primarily via the Internet on the National Center for 
Environmental Assessment's home page under the Recent Additions and 
Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of 
paper copies are available from the Technical Information Staff, NCEA-
W; telephone: 202-564-3261; facsimile: 202-565-0050. If you are 
requesting a paper copy, please provide your name, mailing address, and 
the document title, ``A Framework for Assessing Health Risks of 
Environmental Exposures to Children'' (EPA/600/R-05/093A).
    Comments may be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/
courier. Please follow the detailed instructions

[[Page 13126]]

as provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment 
period, contact the OEI Docket; telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 
202-566-1753; or e-mail: [email protected].
    If you have questions about the document, please contact the 
Technical Information Staff, National Center for Environmental 
Assessment, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone: 202-564-3261; facsimile: 202-565-0050; or e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Information About the Document

    Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the 
recognition of, and public health concern for, the vulnerability of 
children to exposure to environmental agents. Children have unusual 
patterns of exposure and have vulnerabilities to chemical agents that 
are quite distinct from those of adults, and thus require special 
consideration in risk assessment. Children often have 
disproportionately higher exposures to certain environmental toxicants 
because, pound-for-pound of body weight, children have higher food and 
water intake and breathe more air than adults. Metabolic pathways in 
the young, especially in the first few months after birth, are 
immature, and the ability to detoxify environmental agents is different 
from that of adults. In addition, behavior and activity patterns of 
children often magnify their exposures. These factors imply that 
children are likely to have more substantial exposures than adults to 
certain environmental agents. This document attempts to organize and 
present current knowledge and practices in a programmatic framework for 
assessing human health risks from exposures to environmental agents 
from prior to conception through adolescence. It describes this 
framework within the current Agency risk assessment paradigm, and 
includes problem formulation, analysis and risk characterization as 
discrete steps in the process. Moreover, this document focuses on mode 
of action as a context for considering the toxicokinetic and 
toxicodynamic differences between children and adults, and considers 
approaches for risk assessment in the context of uncertainty and 
variability in exposure and critical windows of development.

II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2006-
0134, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-1753.
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information Docket (Mail 
Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-566-1752.
     Hand delivery/courier: The Office of Environmental 
Information (OEI) Docket is located in the Headquarters EPA Docket 
Center (EPA/DC), EPA West Building, Room B102, 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, and the telephone number for the OEI Docket is 202-566-1752; 
facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: [email protected]. Such 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 technical comments by mail or hand delivery/courier, 
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-
2006-0134. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes 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 means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without 
going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, 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 home page 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 in the EPA Headquarters 
Docket Center. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, 
will be publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly available docket 
materials are available either electronically in http://www.regulations.gov, or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center.

    Dated: March 7, 2006.
George W. Alapas,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 06-2436 Filed 3-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P