[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 16, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28346-28347]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7395]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


Proposed Criteria for Removing Chemicals From Future Editions of 
CDC's National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health and 
Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On Monday, October 7, 2002, CDC published final criteria for 
consideration of chemicals or categories of chemicals for possible 
inclusion in future releases of CDC's ``National Report on Human 
Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (the ``Report'') and also solicited 
chemicals for possible inclusion in future editions of the ``Report'' 
(See Federal Register, 67 FR 62477). The final selection criteria have 
remained the same since the issuance of the 2002 notice. They are as 
follows: (1) Independent scientific data which suggest that the 
potential for exposure of the U.S. population to a particular chemical 
is changing (i.e., increasing or decreasing) or persisting; (2) 
seriousness of health effects known or suspected to result from 
exposure to the chemical (for example, cancer, birth defects, or other 
serious health effects); (3) proportion of the U.S. population likely 
to be exposed to levels of chemicals of known or potential health 
significance; (4) need to assess the efficacy of public health actions 
to reduce exposure to a chemical in the U.S. population or a large 
component of the U.S. population (for example, among children, women of 
childbearing age, the elderly); (5) existence of an analytical method 
that can measure the chemical or its metabolite in blood or urine with 
adequate accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and speed; and (6) 
incremental analytical cost (in dollars and personnel) to perform the 
analyses (preference is given to chemicals that can be added readily to 
existing analytical methods).
    On Tuesday, September 30, 2003, CDC published a record of the 
nominated chemicals of interest that were scored by a panel of experts 
in accordance with the published selection criteria. (See Federal 
Register, 68 FR 56296.) All of this information is available on CDC's 
Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/chemical_nominations.htm. Past and future nominations do not result in 
obligatory laboratory analysis or inclusion of nominated chemicals in 
the ``Report,'' but rather serve to better inform CDC about which 
chemicals are of concern to the public.
    CDC now requests public comment on proposed criteria for removing 
chemicals from future editions of the ``Report.'' These removal 
criteria (given below) will become part of a combined process of 
nominating chemicals for inclusion in or removal from the ``Report.'' 
This process will include (a) nominations from the public of chemicals 
to include or remove from the ``Report,''(b) an external scoring of 
nominations in accord with the published nomination and removal 
criteria, and (c) assistance from the Board of Scientific Counselors of 
CDC's National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic 
Substances and Disease Registry in reviewing plans for including or 
removing chemicals and identifying alternatives for monitoring specific 
at-risk population subgroups. This combined process for nomination and 
removal would occur periodically (e.g., every six years). The criteria 
for selecting and removing chemicals apply only to those chemicals 
published in the ``Report,'' not those merely nominated.
    The proposed removal criteria are as follows: A chemical may be 
removed from the ``Report'': (1) If a new replacement chemical (i.e., a 
metabolite) is more representative of exposure than the chemical 
currently being measured or; (2) if after three survey periods (or not 
less than six years), detection rates for all chemicals within a 
methodological and chemically-related group* are less than 5 percent 
for all

[[Page 28347]]

population subgroups (two sexes, three race/ethnicity, and three age 
groups) or; (3) if after three survey periods (or not less than six 
years), levels of chemicals within a methodological and chemically-
related group are unchanged or declining in all the specific subgroups 
as documented in the ``Report.''
    A chemical would continue to be measured and not be removed from 
the ``Report'' if it met either of two proposed exceptions to these 
criteria: (a) It is a chemical for which there is an established 
biomonitoring health threshold (e.g., CDC's level of concern for blood 
lead levels in children) or any chemical for which there is widespread 
public health concern (e.g., mercury) or (b) three survey periods (or 
not less than six years) have passed, which constitute the minimum time 
before a chemical could be removed; a longer period may be necessary to 
account for the half-life of a particular chemical or to account for a 
recent change (e.g., the removal of a chemical from commerce) that 
would necessitate monitoring of the population.
    Note that the criteria for removing a chemical from the ``Report'' 
are not the corollaries of the criteria for adding chemicals to the 
``Report.'' After reviewing and incorporating public comments from this 
announcement, CDC will publish the criteria in their final form in the 
Federal Register.

    *Chemicals within a methodological and chemically related group 
are those which are detected and identified by a single test or 
analytic procedure, such that individual chemicals in the group 
cannot easily be dropped from analysis while others in the group 
continue to be monitored.

DATES: Submit comments on or before May 31, 2006, to the below address.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this notice to Dorothy 
Sussman, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center 
for Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Sciences, Mail Stop F-
20, 4770 Buford Highway, Atlanta, Georgia 30341.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dorothy Sussman, Telephone 770-488-
7950.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CDC publishes the ``Report'' under the 
authorities 42 U.S.C. 241 and 42 U.S.C. 242k. The ``Report'' provides 
ongoing assessment using biomonitoring of the exposure of the 
noninstitutionalized, civilian population to environmental chemicals. 
Biomonitoring assesses human exposure to chemicals by measuring the 
chemicals or their metabolites in human specimens such as blood or 
urine. For the ``Report,'' an environmental chemical means a chemical 
compound or chemical element present in air, water, soil, dust, food, 
or other environmental medium. The ``Report'' provides exposure 
information about participants in an ongoing national survey known as 
the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This 
survey is conducted by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics; 
measurements are conducted by CDC's National Center for Environmental 
Health. The first ``Report,'' published in March 2001, gave information 
about levels of 27 chemicals found in the U.S. population; the second 
``Report,'' published in January 2003, contained exposure information 
on 116 chemicals, including the 27 chemicals in the first ``Report.'' 
The third ``Report,'' published in July 2005, contained exposure 
information on 148 chemicals, including data on the chemicals published 
in the second ``Report.'' This ``Report'' can be obtained in the 
following ways: access http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport; e-mail 
ncehdls @cdc.gov; or telephone 1-866-670-6052. Over time, CDC will be 
able to track trends in exposure levels. The ``Report'' is published 
every 2 years; the fourth ``Report'' is slated for publication in 2007.

James D. Seligman,
Chief Information Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).
 [FR Doc. E6-7395 Filed 5-15-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P