[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 61 (Wednesday, March 31, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16108-16109]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-7229]


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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9132-1]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of a Public 
Teleconference and Public Meeting of the SAB Trichloroethylene (TCE) 
Review Panel

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces 
two public meetings of the SAB Trichloroethylene (TCE) Review Panel: a 
teleconference and a face-to-face meeting to review EPA's Toxicological 
Review of Trichloroethylene in Support of Summary Information on the 
Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), External Review Draft.

DATES: There will be a public teleconference on April 20, 2010 from 
2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time). The public meeting will be held 
on May 10, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Eastern Time), May 11, 2010 from 
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 12, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Eastern time).

ADDRESSES: The teleconference will be conducted by phone only. The 
face-to-face meeting on May 10-12, 2010 will be held at The Hilton 
Embassy Row Hotel, 2015 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20036; telephone (202) 265-1600.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing to 
obtain information concerning the public teleconference and/or public 
meeting may contact Dr. Marc Rigas, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), 
EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office (1400F), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
by telephone/voice mail at (202) 343-9978 or at [email protected]. 
General information about the SAB, as well as any updates concerning 
the meeting announced in this notice, may be found on the EPA Web site 
at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee 
Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C., App. 2, notice is hereby given that the SAB 
Trichloroethylene Review Panel will hold a public teleconference to 
discuss the plans for the subsequent public face-to-face meeting to 
conduct a peer review of the EPA's Toxicological Review of 
Trichloroethylene in Support of Summary Information on the Integrated 
Risk Information System (IRIS), External Review Draft (October 2009). 
The SAB was established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 4365 to provide 
independent scientific and technical advice to the Administrator on the 
technical basis for Agency positions and regulations. The SAB is a 
Federal Advisory Committee chartered under FACA. The SAB will comply 
with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office 
procedural policies.
    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, 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).
    In 2001, ORD developed a draft IRIS Toxicological Assessment for 
TCE, which was released for public comment and external peer review. In 
2002, the Environmental Health Committee of the SAB reviewed the draft 
TCE Assessment and made several recommendations to strengthen the dose-
response assessment. In 2004, in preparation for development of a new 
TCE assessment, the National Research Council (NRC) was requested to 
provide a scientific consultation on key scientific issues related to 
assessing the human health risks of TCE, including those relevant to 
hazard characterization/mode of action, physiologically-based 
pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling, and dose-response assessment. ORD has 
taken the recommendations and conclusions included in the NRC's report, 
which was released in 2006, into account as it developed a new revised 
draft IRIS Toxicological Assessment for TCE. ORD has requested that the 
SAB review its revised draft assessment.
    In response to ORD's request, the SAB Staff Office solicited 
nominations of experts and formed a review panel for TCE [Federal 
Register Notice dated October 22, 2009 (74 FR 54563-54564)]. The panel 
will conduct a review of EPA's October 2009 External Review Draft of 
its Toxicological Review of Trichloroethylene in Support of Summary 
Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). 
Specifically, the panel is being asked to provide recommendations on 
physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling, meta-analysis 
for cancer epidemiology, components of the TCE hazard assessment and 
dose-response assessment. The purpose of the teleconference is for the 
panel to receive a briefing on the assessment and for members to 
clarify the charge to the panel. During the face-to-face meeting, the 
panel will review the assessment.
    Availability of Meeting Materials: Agendas and materials in support 
of these meetings will be placed on the EPA Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab in advance of each meeting. For technical questions and 
information concerning EPA's draft document, please contact Dr. 
Weihsueh Chiu at (703) 347-8607, or [email protected].
    Procedures for Providing Public Input: Interested members of the 
public may submit relevant written or oral

[[Page 16109]]

information for the SAB Trichloroethylene Review Panel to consider 
during this advisory activity. Oral Statements: In general, individuals 
or groups requesting an oral presentation at a public teleconference 
will be limited to three minutes per speaker, with no more than a total 
of 30 minutes for all speakers. At the face-to-face meeting, 
presentations will be limited to five minutes, with no more than a 
total of one hour for all speakers. Each person making an oral 
statement should consider providing written comments as well as their 
oral statement so that the points presented orally can be expanded upon 
in writing. Interested parties should contact Dr. Marc Rigas, DFO, in 
writing (preferably via e-mail) at the contact information noted above 
by April 13, 2010 for the teleconference and by May 3, 2010 for the 
face-to-face meeting, to be placed on the list of public speakers. 
Written Statements: Written statements should be supplied to the DFO 
via e-mail at the contact information noted above by April 13, 2010 for 
the teleconference and by May 3, 2010 for the face-to-face meeting so 
that the information may be made available to the Committee members for 
their consideration. Written statements should be supplied in one of 
the following electronic formats: Adobe Acrobat PDF, MS Word, MS 
PowerPoint, or Rich Text files in IBM-PC/Windows 98/2000/XP format. 
Submitters are requested to provide versions of signed documents, 
submitted with and without signatures, because the SAB Staff Office 
does not publish documents with signatures on its Web sites.
    Accessibility: For information on access or services for 
individuals with disabilities, please contact Dr. Marc Rigas at (202) 
343-9978 or [email protected]. To request accommodation of a 
disability, please contact Dr. Rigas preferably at least ten days prior 
to each meeting to give EPA as much time as possible to process your 
request.

    Dated: March 24, 2010.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-7229 Filed 3-30-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P