[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 67 (Friday, April 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20817-20819]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-8209]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9656-5; EPA-HQ-ORD-2007-0664]


Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS); Announcement of 
Availability of Literature Searches for IRIS Assessments

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Announcement of availability of literature searches for IRIS 
assessments; request for information.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing 
the availability of literature searches for acetaldehyde (75-07-0) and 
1,2,3-trimethlybenzene (526-73-8). EPA is requesting scientific 
information on health effects that may result from exposure to these 
chemical substances.

[[Page 20818]]

EPA's IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates 
quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that may 
result from exposure to specific chemical substances found in the 
environment.

DATES: EPA will accept information related to the specific substances 
included herein as well as any other compounds being assessed by the 
IRIS Program. Please submit any information in accordance with the 
instructions provided below.

ADDRESSES: Please submit relevant scientific information identified by 
docket ID number EPA-HQ-ORD-2007-0664, online at www.regulations.gov 
(EPA's preferred method); by email to [email protected]; mailed to 
Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket (Mail Code: 2822T), 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001; or by hand delivery or courier to EPA Docket 
Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, 
DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding 
legal holidays. Information on a disk or CD-ROM should be formatted in 
Word or as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and 
any form of encryption, and may be mailed to the mailing address above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the IRIS program, 
contact Karen Hammerstrom, IRIS Program Deputy Director, National 
Center for Environmental Assessment, (mail code: 8601D), Office of 
Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (703) 347-8642, facsimile: (703) 347-
8689; or email: [email protected].
    For general questions about access to IRIS, or the content of IRIS, 
please call the IRIS Hotline at (202) 566-1676 or send electronic mail 
inquiries to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    EPA's IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates 
quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that may 
result from exposure to specific chemical substances found in the 
environment. Through the IRIS Program, EPA provides the highest quality 
science-based human health assessments to support the Agency's 
regulatory activities. The IRIS database contains information for more 
than 540 chemical substances that can be used to support the first two 
steps (hazard identification and dose-response evaluation) of the risk 
assessment process. When supported by available data, IRIS provides 
oral reference doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference concentrations 
(RfCs) for chronic noncancer health effects as well as assessments of 
potential carcinogenic effects resulting from chronic exposure. 
Combined with specific exposure information, government and private 
entities use IRIS to help characterize public health risks of chemical 
substances in a site-specific situation and thereby support risk 
management decisions designed to protect public health.
    This data call-in is an early step in the IRIS process. As 
literature searches are completed, the results will be posted on the 
IRIS Web site (http://www.epa.gov/iris). The public is invited to 
review the literature search results and submit additional information 
to EPA.
    EPA recently added 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene (TMB) to the IRIS agenda 
to complete the set of three trimethylbenzene isomers. Two other 
isomers of TMB are already included on the IRIS agenda and undergoing 
review (1,2,4-TMB and 1,3,5-TMB). 1,2,3-TMB is often found in the 
environment with 1,2,4 and 1,3,5-TMB. Given this situation, and in 
response to comments received in the Agency Review and Interagency 
Science Consultation for 1,2,4 and 1,3,5-TMB, EPA is adding 1,2,3-TMB 
to the agenda and will conduct assessments of all three isomers at the 
same time. Because the 1,2,4- and 1,3,5-TMB assessments are already 
underway, EPA would appreciate notification of any additional 
literature as soon as possible so that this information can be included 
in the 1,2,3-TMB assessment prior to public comment and external peer 
review.

Request for Public Involvement in IRIS Assessments

    EPA is soliciting public involvement in assessments on the IRIS 
agenda. While EPA conducts a thorough literature search for each 
chemical substance, there may be unpublished studies or other primary 
technical sources that are not available through the open literature. 
EPA would appreciate receiving scientific information from the public 
during the information gathering stage for the assessments listed in 
this notice or any other assessments on the IRIS agenda. Interested 
persons may provide scientific analyses, studies, and other pertinent 
scientific information. While EPA is primarily soliciting information 
on new assessments, the public may submit information on any chemical 
substance at any time.
    EPA is announcing the availability of additional literature 
searches on the IRIS web site (www.epa.gov/iris). The public is invited 
to review the literature search results and submit additional 
information to EPA. Literature searches are now available for 
acetaldehyde (75-07-0) and 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene (526-73-8) at 
www.epa.gov/iris under ``IRIS Agenda and Literature Searches.'' When 
viewing the literature search for 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene, reviewers 
should also review the literature searches for 1,2,4 and 1,3,5-TMB as 
some of the studies included in those searches also include data and 
information on 1,2,3-TMB and will be considered in the 1,2,3-TMB 
assessment. Instructions on how to submit information are provided 
below under General Information.

General Information

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2007-
0664 by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-1753.
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) 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: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 
Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center's 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. 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 information 
by mail or hand delivery, 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 main 
text, and submit an unbound original and three copies.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2007-0664. It is EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in 
the public docket without change and to make the comments available 
online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided, unless a comment includes information claimed to 
be Confidential Business Information

[[Page 20819]]

(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 email. 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 email comment 
directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your 
email 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 
homepage 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. 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 30, 2012.
Darrell A. Winner,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2012-8209 Filed 4-5-12; 8:45 am]
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