[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 198 (Friday, October 13, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 60514]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-16911]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

 [FRL-8230-5]


A Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposures 
to Children

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the availability of a final report titled, 
``A Framework for Assessing Health Risks of Environmental Exposures to 
Children'' (EPA/600/R-05/093F), prepared by the National Center for 
Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and 
Development (ORD).

DATES: This document will be available on or about October 13, 2006.

ADDRESSES: The document will be available electronically through the 
NCEA Web site at 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/Washington Office (8623D), 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 202-564-3261; fax: 202-565-0050; e-
mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of this report is to provide an 
overarching framework for a complete and transparent assessment of 
exposure of environmental agents to children and resulting potential 
health risks within the U.S. EPA's risk assessment paradigm. This 
Framework builds on the Agency's past experience in evaluating risk to 
children. This Framework lays out a life stage-specific risk assessment 
process, points to existing published sources for more detailed 
information on life stage-specific considerations, and includes Web 
links to specific online publications and relevant Agency science 
policy papers, guidelines and guidance. This Framework emphasizes the 
need for risk assessments to take into account potential exposures to 
environmental agents during preconception and all stages of 
development. This Framework is not intended to present an Agency 
guideline, but rather describes the overall structure of and the 
components considered important for children's health risk assessment.
    The report describes an approach that includes problem formulation, 
analysis, and risk characterization steps, and also builds on Agency 
experience assessing risk to susceptible populations.
     Problem Formulation--Focuses on the life stage-specific 
nature of the analysis to include scoping and screening level questions 
for hazard characterization, dose response and exposure assessment.
     Analysis--Focuses on a life stage approach to evaluating 
hazard, dose-response and exposure that is relevant to the scope of the 
problem identified in problem formulation.
     Risk Characterization--Recognizes the need to consider 
life stage-specific risks and explicitly describes the uncertainties 
and variability in the database.
    It is important to note that within this framework, life stage-
specific data gaps are not meant to convey an obligatory change in how 
uncertainty factor(s) associated with EPA's health risk assessment 
methods should be judged in a given risk assessment, but rather to 
consider how life stage-specific data can better characterize the risk 
to susceptible groups within the population.
    The peer review panel report, the public comments, and the response 
to peer review and public comments will also be available at the same 
time.

    Dated: September 14, 2006.
George Alapas,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
 [FR Doc. E6-16911 Filed 10-12-06; 8:45 am]
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