United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Environmental Criteria and
Assessment Office
Cincinnati OH 45268
Research and Development
EPA/540/S1-86/059 Mar. 1986
&EPA Project Summary
Health Effects
Assessment Documents
A series of 58 Health Effects Assess-
ments were prepared by the Environ-
mental Criteria and Assessment Office,
Cincinnati, OH, for the Office of
Emergency and Remedial Response.
These documents are brief, summary
assessments of potential adverse health
effects following either oral or inhalation
exposure for the purpose of remedial
actions.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Environmental Criteria and
Assessment Office, Cincinnati, OH, to
announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in 58
separate reports (see Project Report
ordering information at back).
The Environmental Criteria and Assess-
ment Office, Cincinnati, OH, of the Office
of Health and Environmental Assessment
has prepared a series of 58 Health Effects
Assessments (HEAs) for the Office of
Emergency and Remedial Response.
These documents are intended to provide
brief, preliminary assessments of poten-
tial adverse health effects following either
inhalation or oral exposure to toxicants
in the context of evaluations for remedial
actions. The estimates of acceptable
intakes and cancer potencies presented
in the HEAs should be considered pre-
liminary, and may be updated as more
recent in-depth assessments are com-
pleted.
Whenever possible, two categories of
route-specific acceptable intakes have
been estimated for systemic toxicants
(toxicants for which cancer is not the
endpoint of concern). The first, the AIS or
acceptable intake for subchronic expo-
sure, is an estimate of an exposure level
which would not be expected to cause
adverse effects when exposure occurs
during a limited time interval (i.e., for an
interval which does not constitute a
significant portion of the lifespan). This
type of exposure estimate has not been
extensively used, or rigorously defined,
as previous risk assessment effects have
been primarily directed towards expo-
sures from toxicants in ambient air or
water where lifetime exposure is as-
sumed. Animal data used for AIS esti-
mates generally include exposures with
durations of 30-90 days. Because reported
human exposures are usually from
chronic, occupational exposure situations
or from reports of acute accidental expo-
sure, subchronic human data are rarely
available.
The AIC or acceptable intake for chronic
exposure, is similar in concept to the ADI
(acceptable daily intake). It is an estimate
of an exposure level which would not be
expected to cause adverse effects when
exposure occurs for a significant portion
of the lifespan. The AIC is route specific
and estimates acceptable exposure for a
given route with the implicity assumption
that exposure via other routes is insignifi-
cant.
For compounds for which there is
sufficient" evidence of carcinogenicity,
AIS and AIC values are not derived. Since
the Agency's cancer policy assumes a
process which is not characterized by a
threshold, any exposure contributes an
increment of risk. Consequently, deriva-
tion of AIS and AIC values would be
inappropriate. For carcinogens, qi*s have
been computed based on oral and/or
inhalation data if available. The q,*
represents an upper-bound estimate on
lifetime cancer risk as estimated by the
multi-stage model.
Inhalation values (AIS, AIC and q,*)
have been developed for purposes of
inhalation exposure evaluations only.
These values do not reflect differential
absorption assumptions appropriate for
route-to-route extrapolation. These esti-
mates have been developed to be readily
transposable to units of air concentration
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and have incorporated an assumption
that exposure concentration will be rela-
tively stable across a 24-hour period.
Of the 58 subject chemicals, cancer
potency estimates were developed for 26
compounds: arsenic, benzene, benzo(a)
pyrene, cadmium (inhalation only), carbon
tetrachloride, chlordane, chloroform, coal
tars, DDT, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1 -dichlo-
roethylene, hexachlorobenzene, hexa-
chlorobutadiene, hexavalent chromium
(inhalation only), lindane, methylene
chloride, nickel (inhalation only), poly-
cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH),
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 2,3,7,
8-TCDD, 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, tetra-
chloroethytene, 1,1,2-trichloroethane,
trichloroethylene, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol
and vinyl chloride.
AIS and/or AIC values were estimated
for 27 compounds: acetone, barium,
cadmium (oral only), chlorobenzene,
copper, cresols, cyanide, 1,1-dichloro-
ethane, ethyl benzene, glycol ethers,
hexachlorocyclopentadiene, hexavalent
chromium (oral only), iron, manganese,
mercury, methyl ethyl ketone, nickel (oral
only), pentachlorophenol, phenol, selen-
ium, sodium cyanide, toluene, 1,1,1-tri-
chloroethane, 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, tri-
valent chromium, xylene and zinc. For
sulfuric acid available data related solely
to portal of entry effects. Therefore,
exposure concentrations rather than
acceptable intakes were developed.
For six compounds data were inade-
quate for quantitative assessment: 1,2-
cis-dichloroethylene, 1,2-trans-dichloro-
ethylene, naphthalene, phenanthrene
and pyrena. For asbestos, despite con-
siderable data, quantitative estimates
wore not attempted due to the confound-
ing problems of fiber size and shape. This
is an issue currently under review. Simi-
larly for lead, AIS and AIC values are not
provided awaiting the conclusions of a
large-scale review effort concerning this
compound. In the interim existing stan-
dards are presented and discussed.
The primary focus of the brief literature
summaries presented in the HEAs is
literature directly relevant to hazard
assessment, primarily mammalian toxi-
cological evaluations of subchronic or
chronic duration conducted utilizing oral
or inhalation exposure protocols. The
HEAs generally reflect secondary sources
of information when available in the form
of more extensive agency documentation.
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This Project Summary was prepared by staff of the Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, USEPA, Cincinnati, OH 45268.
This Project Summary covers 58 separate reports, entitled "Health Effects Assessment for—,"
Acetone (Order No. PB 86-134 277/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Arsenic (Order No. PB 86-134 319/-AS; Cost: $11.95)
Asbestos (Order No. PB 86-134 608/AS; Cost: $11.95)
Barium (Order No. PB 86-134 327/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Benzene (Order No. PB 86-134 483/AS; Cost: $11.95)
Benzo(a)pyrene (Order No. PB 86-134 335/AS; Cost:
$9.95)
Cadmium (Order No. PB 86-134 491/AS; Cost: $11.95)
Carbon Tetrach/oride (Order No. PB 86-134 509'/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
Chlordane (Order No. PB 86-134 343/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Chlorobenzene (Order No. PB 86-134 517/AS; Cost:
$9.95)
Chloroform (Order No. PB 86-134 210/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Coal Tars (Order No. PB 86-134 350/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Copper (Order No. PB 86-134 368/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Cresols (Order No. PB 86-134 616/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Cyanide (Order No. PB 86-134 228/AS; Cost: $9.95)
DDT (Order No. PB 86-134 376/AS; Cost: $11.95)
1,1 -Dichloroethane (Order No. PB 86-134 384/AS; Cost:
$9.95)
1,2-Dichloroethane (Order No. PB 86-134 137/AS; Cost:
$11.95)
1,1-Dichloroethylene (Order No. PB 86-134 624/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
1,2-cis-Dichloroethylene(Order No. PB 86-134 269/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
1,2-trans-Dichloroethylene (Order No. PB 86-134
525/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Ethylbenzene (Order No. PB 86-134 194/AS; Cost:
$9.95)
Glycol Ethers (Order No. PB 86-134 632/AS; Cost:
$11.95)
Hexachlorobenzene (Order No. PB86-134 285/A S; Cost:
$9.95)
Hexachlorobutadiene (Order No. PB 86-134 64O/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
Hexachlorcyclopentadiene (Order No. PB 86-134
129/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Hexavalent Chromium (Order No. PB 86-134 301/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
Iron (and Compounds) (Order No. PB 86-134 657/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
Lead (Order No. PB 86-134 665/AS; Cost: $11.95)
Lindane (Order No. PB 86-134 673/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Manganese (and Compounds) (Order No. PB 86-134
681/AS; Cost: $11.95)
Mercury (Order No. PB 86-134 533/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Methylene Chloride (Order No. PB86-134 392/A S; Cost:
$11.95)
Methyl Ethyl Ketone (Order No. PB86-134 145/AS;Cost:
$9.95)
Naphthalene (Order No. PB86-134 251 /A S; Cost: $9.95)
Nickel (Order No. PB 86-134 293/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Pentachlorophenol (Order No. PB 86-134 541 /A S; Cost:
$9.95)
Phenanthrene (Order No. PB 86-134 400/AS; Cost:
$9.95)
Phenol (Order No. PB 86-134 186/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Poly cyclic Biphenyls (PCBs) (Order No. PB 86-134
152/AS;Cost:$11,95).
Polychlorinated Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) (Order No.
PB 86-134 244/AS; Cost: $11.95)
Pyrene (Order No. PB 86-134 418/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Selenium (and Compounds) (Order No. PB 86-134
699/AS; Cost: $11.95)
Sodium Cyanide (Order No. PB 86-134 236/AS; Cost:
$9.95)
Sulf'uric Acid(Order No. PB 86-134 426/AS; Cost: $9.95)
2.3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (Order No. PB 86-
134 558/AS; Cost: $11.95)
1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane (Order No. PB 86-134
434/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Tetrachloroethylene (Order No. PB 86-134 202/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
Toluene (Order No. PB 86-134 442/AS; Cost: $9.95)
1,1.1-Trichloroethane (Order No. PB 86-134 160/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
1.1.2-Trichloroethane (Order No. PB 86-134 566/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
Trichloroethylene (Order No. PB 86-134 574/AS; Cost:
$9.95)
2,4,5-Trichlorophenol (Order No. PB 86-134 459/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
2,4,6-Trichlorophenol (Order No. PB 86-134 582/AS;
Cost: $9.95)
Trivalent Chromium (Order No. PB 86-134 467/AS; Cost:
$9.95)
Vinyl Chloride (Order No. PB 86-134 475/AS; Cost:
$11.95)
Xylene (Order No. PB 86-134 178/AS; Cost: $9.95)
Zinc (and Compounds) (Order No. PB 86-134 590/AS;
Cost: $11.95)
Complete Set of 58 Reports (Order No. PB 86-134
111/AS; Cost: $518.00)
The above reports will be available only from: (cost subject to change)
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
For information C. T. DeRosa can be contacted at:
Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, OH 45268
&U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1988/550-292/62072
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United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
EPA/540/S1-86/059
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