[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53138-53139]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-20913]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9900-46-ORD; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2006-0756]


Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period on the Draft IRIS 
Carcinogenicity Assessment for Ethylene Oxide and Addition of Ethylene 
Oxide to October IRIS Bimonthly Meeting Agenda

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period to October 11, 
2013, and Addition of Ethylene Oxide to October IRIS Bimonthly Meeting 
Agenda.

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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing an extension of the public comment period 
for the IRIS external review draft carcinogenicity assessment titled, 
``Evaluation of the Inhalation Carcinogenicity of Ethylene Oxide'' 
(EPA/635/R-13/128a and EPA/635/R-13/128b) and the draft peer review 
charge questions. The original Federal Register notice announcing the 
public comment period was published on July 23, 2013. We are extending 
the deadline for this public comment period from September 5, 2013, to 
October 11, 2013, at the request of the American Chemistry Council and 
the Ethylene Oxide Sterilization Association, Inc. The draft assessment 
was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) 
within the EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD). This draft 
assessment is not final as described in EPA's information quality 
guidelines, and it does not represent and should not be construed to 
represent Agency policy or views.
    Discussion of the draft IRIS carcinogenicity assessment for 
ethylene oxide will be included on the agenda of the IRIS bimonthly 
public meeting to be held on October 23-24, 2013, at EPA offices in 
Arlington, Virginia. Information on this meeting, including meeting 
location, time, registration, and participation procedures will be 
available at the IRIS Web site (http://www.epa.gov/iris/publicmeeting/
).

DATES: The public comment period began on July 23, 2013, and is being 
extended to end on October 11, 2013. Comments should be in writing and 
must be received by EPA by October 11, 2013.

ADDRESSES: The draft ``Evaluation of the Inhalation Carcinogenicity of 
Ethylene Oxide'' is available primarily via the Internet on the NCEA 
home page under the Recent Additions and Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of paper copies are available from 
the Information Management Team, NCEA; telephone: 703-347-8561; 
facsimile: 703-347-8691. If you request a paper copy, please provide 
your name, mailing address, and the document title. Comments may be 
submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, by email, by 
mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. Please follow the 
detailed instructions provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 
of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the federal docket, 
contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket; telephone: 202-
566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-9744; or email: [email protected]. For 
information on the IRIS bimonthly public meeting, contact Christine 
Ross, IRIS Staff, National Center for Environmental Assessment, 
(8601P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 703-347-8592; facsimile: 703-347-
8689; or email: [email protected]. If you have questions about the 
document, contact Jennifer Jinot, National Center for Environmental 
Assessment; telephone: 703-347-8597; facsimile: 703-347-8690; or email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

[[Page 53139]]

I. Information About IRIS

    EPA's IRIS Program is a human health assessment program that 
evaluates quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that 
may result from exposure to 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 and decisions to protect public health. The IRIS 
database contains information for more than 500 chemical substances 
that can be used to support the first two steps (hazard identification 
and dose-response evaluation) of the human health risk assessment 
process. When supported by available data, IRIS provides health effects 
information and toxicity values for health effects (including cancer 
and effects other than cancer). Government and others combine IRIS 
toxicity values with exposure information to characterize public health 
risks of chemical substances; this information is then used to support 
risk management decisions designed to protect public health.

II. Extension of Comment Period

    The EPA is extending the deadline for submitting comments on the 
draft ``Evaluation of the Inhalation Carcinogenicity of Ethylene 
Oxide'' and on the draft peer review charge questions to October 11, 
2013. The original deadline for comments was September 5, 2013. The 
EPA's decision responds to requests to extend the comment deadline. The 
EPA believes that this extension will assist in providing an adequate 
amount of additional time for the public to review the drafts and to 
provide written comments.

III. Bimonthly Public Meeting

    In addition to the extension to the public comment period announced 
in this notice, the draft assessment will be discussed at the first 
IRIS bimonthly public meeting scheduled for October 23-24, 2013. 
Information on this meeting, including meeting location, time, 
registration, and participation procedures will be available at the 
IRIS Web site (http://www.epa.gov/iris/publicmeeting/). The purpose of 
the IRIS public meeting is to allow all interested parties to present 
scientific and technical comments on the draft IRIS health assessment 
and charge questions to EPA and other interested parties attending the 
meeting.

IV. Peer Review

    In addition to this public comment period, the draft assessment 
will be reviewed by the EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) Chemical 
Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) for peer review. The EPA SAB is a 
body established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act with a broad 
mandate to advise the Agency on scientific matters. The public comment 
period and bimonthly public meeting announced in this notice are 
separate processes from the SAB/CAAC peer review. The SAB will schedule 
one or more public peer-review meetings which will be announced in a 
separate Federal Register Notice at a later date.

V. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at http://www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2006-
0756 by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-9744.
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket 
(Mail Code: 28221T), 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. 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 comments 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 
comments, and submit an unbound original and three copies.
    Instructions for submitting comments to the EPA Docket: Direct your 
comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2006-0756. Please ensure that your 
comments are submitted within the specified comment period. Comments 
received after the closing date will be marked ``late,'' and may only 
be considered if time permits. 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 (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.
    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: August 19, 2013.
Lynn Flowers,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2013-20913 Filed 8-27-13; 8:45 am]
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