[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 201 (Tuesday, October 20, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53740-53741]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-25169]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8970-3]


EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations 
of Experts for the SAB Methanol Review Panel

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice request for nominations.

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SUMMARY: The Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is requesting 
public nominations of experts to form an SAB Ad Hoc Panel to review 
EPA's health effects assessment for Methanol.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by November 10, 2009 per 
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact 
Mr. Edward Hanlon, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB Staff Office, 
by telephone/voice mail at (202) 343-9946; by fax at (202) 233-0643; or 
via e-mail at [email protected]. General information concerning the 
EPA Science Advisory Board can be found on the EPA SAB Web site at 
http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is an 
electronic database containing descriptive and quantitative 
toxicological information on human health effects that may result from 
chronic exposure to various substances in the environment. This 
information supports human health risk assessments, and includes hazard 
identification and dose-response data and derivations of oral reference 
doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference concentrations (RfCs) for 
noncancer effects and oral slope factors and oral and inhalation unit 
risks for cancer effects. IRIS is prepared and maintained by EPA's 
National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the Office 
of Research and Development (ORD). NCEA is updating the health effects 
information that supported the1988 IRIS Toxicological Assessment for 
Methanol, and has requested that SAB conduct a review of its updated 
Assessment.
    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 Staff Office will form an expert Panel to review 
ORD's draft IRIS Toxicological Assessment for Methanol. The SAB Panel 
will comply with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act 
(FACA) and all appropriate SAB procedural policies. Upon completion, 
the Panel's report will be submitted to the chartered SAB for final 
approval for transmittal to the EPA Administrator. The Methanol Review 
Panel is being asked to comment on the scientific soundness of the 
Agency's draft IRIS review.
    Availability of the Review Materials: The EPA draft IRIS 
Toxicological Review document to be reviewed by the Methanol Review 
Panel will be made available by ORD at the following URL: http://epa.gov/ncea (under ``Recent Additions''). For questions concerning the 
review materials, please contact Dr.

[[Page 53741]]

Jeffrey Gift, ORD, at (919) 541-4828, or [email protected].
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is requesting 
nominations of nationally recognized experts with expertise in the 
assessment of health effects for Methanol in one or more of the 
following areas: Metabolism, toxicokinetics, toxicology, mechanisms of 
toxicity and carcinogenicity, epidemiology, statistics, and risk 
assessment. In addition, the SAB is requesting nominations of experts 
in the areas of lymphoma pathology and rodent infectious diseases, 
including Mycoplasma pulmonis.
    Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested 
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals for possible 
service on the Methanol Panel in the areas of expertise described 
above. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format (which is 
preferred over hard copy) following the instructions for ``Nominating 
Experts to Advisory Panels and Ad Hoc Committees Being Formed'' 
provided on the SAB Web site. The instructions can be accessed through 
the ``Nomination of Experts'' link on the blue navigational bar on the 
SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. To receive full consideration, 
nominations should include all of the information requested.
    EPA's SAB Staff Office requests: contact information about the 
person making the nomination; contact information about the nominee; 
the disciplinary and specific areas of expertise of the nominee; the 
nominee's curriculum vita; sources of recent grant and/or contract 
support; and a biographical sketch of the nominee indicating current 
position, educational background, research activities, and recent 
service on other national advisory committees or national professional 
organizations.
    Persons having questions about the nomination procedures, or who 
are unable to submit nominations through the SAB Web site, should 
contact Mr. Edward Hanlon, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. 
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than 
November 10, 2009. EPA values and welcomes diversity. In an effort to 
obtain nominations of diverse candidates, EPA encourages nominations of 
women and men of all racial and ethnic groups.
    The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of nominations. 
The names and biosketches of qualified nominees identified by 
respondents to the Federal Register notice and additional experts 
identified by the SAB Staff will be posted on the SAB Web site at 
http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on this ``Short List'' of 
candidates will be accepted for 21 calendar days. The public will be 
requested to provide relevant information or other documentation on 
nominees that the SAB Staff Office should consider in evaluating 
candidates.
    For the EPA SAB Staff Office, a balanced subcommittee or review 
panel includes 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. In 
establishing the Methanol Panel, the SAB Staff Office will consider 
public comments on the ``Short List'' of candidates, information 
provided by the candidates themselves, and background information 
independently gathered by the SAB Staff Office. Selection criteria to 
be used for Panel membership 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 and viewpoints.
    The SAB Staff Office's evaluation of an absence of financial 
conflicts of interest will include a review of 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/pdf/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: October 13, 2009
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. E9-25169 Filed 10-19-09; 8:45 am]
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