Putting Risks from Hazardous
Substances in Perspective
A Guidebook
Draft
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Putting Risks from Hazardous
Substances in Perspective
A Guidebook
Draft
Prepared for
Dr. Ann Fisher
Risk Communication Program
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Prepared by
Josephine A. Mauskopf
Anne Forre.it
William H. Desvousges
Center for Economics Research
Research Triangle Institute
PO. Box 12194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194
EPA Cooperative Agreement No. CR-811075
RTI Project No. 4431
February 1990
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CONTENTS
Page
Introduction
Hazardous Substances in Your Environment 1-1
Defining Hazardous Substances 1-1
Natural and Man-made Sources 1-2
Routine and Accidental Releases 1-4
Pathways into Your Environment 1-5
Additional Reading ¦ ¦ 1-9
Hazardous Substances and the Government 2-1
Environmental Legislation 2-1
EPA's Responsibilities 2-2
The Benefits and Costs of Government Action 2-7
Effectiveness of Government Actions 2-9
Additional Reading 2-12
Estimating Your Environmental Exposures 3-1
Estimating Exposure: An Overview 3-1
Estimating the Amount of Hazardous Substance in Your Environment .... 3-2
Estimating Your Daily Doses 3-4
Selected Exposure Estimates 3-7
Additional Reading 3-9
Estimating Risks 4-1
Estimating Risk of Illness: An Overview 4-1
Identifying Illnesses 4-2
Estimating the Dose-Risk Relationship 4-5
Selected Examples of EPA's Risk Estimates 4-10
Additional Reading 4-15
Judging the Seriousness of Risks 5-1
Characteristics that Influence People's Perception of Risks 5-1
Determining Your Personal Perception of Risks 5-4
Additional Reading 5-5
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Page
Reducing Your Exposure to Hazardous Substances: Personal Action 6-1
Getting Started 6-1
Actions 6-2
Additional Reading 6-12
Reducin£Ex]3osureto_Hazarcjo^^
Why Community Action? 7-1
Your Local Emergency Planning Committee 7-1
Other Community-wide Actions 7-6
Additional Reading 7-8
Hazardous Substances: Getting More Information 8-1
Reference Tables: A Guide 8-1
How to Use the Resources 8-2
Glossary g-1
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
'The EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] estimates that
467,000 tons of tobacco are burned indoors each year. That
smoke has 43 known carcinogens" (USA Today, 6/20/89,1A).
"...NRDC [Natural Resources Defense Council] found industry is
pumping more that 361 million pounds of cancer causing
chemicals into the air yearly..." (USA Today, 6/20/89, 6A).
"According to NRDC, between 5,500 to 6,200 of today's
preschoolers are likely to develop cancer solely because of
exposure to just eight pesticides" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/18/89,
Weekend Magazine, p. 42).
Every day the news media publish statements like these as scientists gain
more knowledge about hazardous substances in the environment. But for you
as the reader such statements often raise more questions than they answer.
You may ask some of these questions:
• How dangerous is the smoke from 467,000 tons of tobacco containing 43
carcinogens? What are my chances of getting cancer from indoor tobacco
smoke?
• What are the chances I will get cancer if I live near one of the million
industrial plants identified in the USA Today articld? What about if I live on
the other side of town from the plant?
• How was the number of cancer cases for preschoolers measured? Are
these cancer cases in addition to the cancer preschoolers may get from
other sources? Are they predicted to get cancer as children or later in life?
We have written this guidebook to help you answer questions you may have
about hazardous substances after reading or hearing statements in news-
papers, television, radio, books, and government reports. Throughout the
guidebook we use the term hazardous substance very broadly. It applies to
any chemical or mineral substance found in air, water, soil, or food that can
cause any type of human illness.
We have tried to give you enough information in the guidebook to think
critically about what you read and hear. Because some of the information is
technical, however, you may find it useful to skim the guidebook and then refer
v
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INTRODUCTION
to it as a reference for answering your questions. The information is as
current and as accurate as possible. We have provided many references for
more information—these references include office names, addresses, and
telephone numbers so you can find someone to help you even if the office
has had personnel changes.
To make the guidebook easier to use, we have divided it into three parts.
Part I, Overview (Chapters 1 and 2), describes different hazardous substances
and how they get into your environment. It also explains the government
legislation and actions under which EPA and other agencies design rules to
reduce releases of hazardous substances into our environment (and, in turn,
reduce people's exposure to these hazardous substances).
To design the rules described in Chapter 2, EPA and other organizations
evaluate a number of factors. Part II, Your Exposure and Risk (Chapters 3
through 5), contains information to help you understand how EPA and other
organizations evaluate these factors. Specifically, the objectives of Part II are
to describe
• methods EPA and other organizations use to measure people's level of
exposure to hazardous substances,
• methods EPA and other organizations use to estimate people's risk of
illness from different exposures, and
• characteristics that influence people's perceptions of the seriousness of
risks.
After reading Parts I and II of this guidebook, you should have a better under-
standing of government actions to reduce people's exposure to hazardous
substances. You also may want to know whether there are further actions you
can take to reduce or understand your personal risks even more. Part III of
this guidebook, Reducing Your Exposure and Risk (Chapters 6 through 8),
describes
• personal actions you can take to reduce your exposures to hazardous
substances,
• community activities and organizations designed to reduce your exposures
to hazardous substances, and
• additional sources of information about many different hazardous
substances and the harmful health effects associated with them.
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PARTI:
Overview
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CHAPTER 1:
Hazardous Substances in Your Environment
CHAPTER 2:
Hazardous Substances and the Government
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN
YOUR ENVIRONMENT
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Hazardous substances are all chemicals or minerals that can harm you when
present in your air, water, soil, or food.
• Hazardous substances can be natural or man-made.
• Hazardous substances get into your environment from both routine and
accidental releases.
• Pathways from the point of release to your environment may be short, such as
from radon in the ground under your house to your indoor air, or long, such as
from a chemical truck accident to a stream to your community water supply to
your faucet.
In this guidebook, the term "hazardous substance" refers to any chemical or
mineral that can harm you when present in your air, water, soil, or food. We
include substances with harmful health effects ranging from minor illnesses or
minor injuries to death. We also include substances with health effects that
occur right away and those with health effects that are delayed for 10 years or
even longer.
Our definition is broad enough to include the scope of major regulations
related to hazardous substances. For example, the Superfund Amendment
and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 defines "extremely hazardous
chemicals" as those that pose an immediate threat to human health when
present in the environment. These health threats include immediate death or
illness from direct contact with the substance or death or injury from fires and
explosions. In contrast to the "hazardous" chemicals, SARA defines "toxic
chemicals" as those chemicals that have health effects, such as cancer, that
appear a long time after the first exposure.
Defining Hazardous Substances
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Natural and Man-made Sources
Many hazardous substances in the environment come from natural sources.
Natural sources exist without human activities and include
naturally occurring minerals,
metals, or gases such as coal,
oil, lead, and radon that are
found in specific geographic
areas; and
naturally occurring pesticides
and contaminants found in
plants used for food such as
aflatoxins in grains and nuts.
Aflatoxins are produced by a
mold that grows on the grains
or nuts.
Natural sources of hazardous substances:
For example, aflatoxin, which is produced
by a mold that grows on grain
Aflatoxin
Aflatoxin is an example of a naturally occurring food contaminant. Often
associated with corn and peanuts, aflatoxin is produced by the fungus
Aspergillus flavus, which thrives in drought conditions such as those
experienced in the midwestern United States during the summer of 1988.
Aflatoxin has been linked to liver cancer when eaten and lung cancer
when inhaled. In addition to causing cancer, aflatoxin is extremely
poisonous. Outbreaks of illnesses and fatalities have been recorded in
Kenya and India among villagers who ate contaminated corn and grain.
In the United States, aflatoxin presents its greatest risks within the food
chain. Dairy cows that are fed aflatoxin-tainted corn can produce
contaminated milk. Similarly, cattle and livestock that eat aflatoxin can
result in contaminated meat. In addition, food products, such as cereals,
breads, tortilla chips, and peanut butter are susceptible to aflatoxin
contamination.
1-2
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Many hazardous substances in the environment come from man-made
sources. Man-made sources are created by human activities and include
• commercial facilities that
make, treat, store, use,
or dispose of hazardous
substances, such as
chemical manufacturers;
• sewage and water treat-
ment plants; and
• some consumer prod-
ucts such as gasoline,
household cleaners, in-
secticides, and paints
and solvents.
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Man-made sources of
hazardous substances:
For example,
consumer products
Man-made Sources of Hazardous Substances: A Two-Edged Sword
Man-made sources of hazardous substances bring benefits to society as
well as hazardous substances to our environment.
Our life expectancy has risen dramatically from 47 years in 1900 to 75
years in 1986. A safer water supply explains part of this increase. Surface
water is now treated chemically to kill many microorganisms that in the
past had extremely serious health consequences. However, this treatment
produces chloroform, a hazardous substance, as a byproduct.
Advances in the chemical industry have given us a wide range of new and
useful products including plastics, nylon, and other man-made fabrics;
industrial solvents; chemical fertilizers; and pesticides. Such products
have raised the standard of living of many people. Light-weight plastic has
replaced heavier metal in various products including cars and furniture.
We save energy by driving lighter cars, which use less energy. Pesticides
and fertilizers have allowed farmers to produce more crops on less land,
providing consumers with greater quantities of food at lower prices. How-
ever, all these advances have increased the number and quantities of haz-
ardous substances produced.
1-3
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Routine and Accidental Releases
Hazardous substances may be released from a source into the air, water, soil,
or food on a regular basis. Routine releases may occur repeatedly over many
years.
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Routine releases of hazardous substances
Routine releases can come from both natural and man-made sources.
Releases from deposits of radon near the earth's surface are an example of
routine releases from natural sources. Routine releases of hazardous
chemicals from man-made sources include
• Using aerosol spray paint in the home,
• Disinfecting surface water,
Driving cars or trucks,
• Operating sewage treatment plants,
Using solvents for dry cleaning,
• Operating chemical factories,
• Smoking cigarettes, and
Using building materials that contain formaldehyde or asbestos.
1-4
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Hazardous substances may
also be released to the
environment as a result of
an accident. Accidental
releases occur without
warning and may be either
for a very short time only or,
if undetected, for longer
time periods.
Accidental releases of hazardous substances
Accidental releases can also come from both natural and man-made sources.
A forest fire started by lightning results in accidental releases from natural
sources. Here are some examples of accidental releases from man-made
sources:
• Leaks from underground storage tanks for gasoline or industrial solvents,
• Accidental explosions and fires at industrial plants, and
• Truck or train wrecks that release gasoline or other substances.
Pathways into Your Environment
A hazardous substance can take many different pathways to get from its point
of release to your environment. Knowing all the possible pathways is an im-
portant factor in determining whether the hazardous substance will get into
your environment. In general, the closer you are to the place where the haz-
ardous substance is released the more likely it will be in your environment.
Here are a few typical environmental pathways.
1-5
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
• A factory smokestack releases particles containing lead, a hazardous
substance, into the air. Eventually some of these particles may be
deposited onto vegetable crops which people eat.
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Transport of lead from factory to food supply
• Benzene and other hazardous substances are released to the air when
gasoline is put in an automobile. People who pump the gasoline will
breathe in the air containing the hazardous substances or absorb them
through their skin. Gasoline pumps can be designed to reduce the
amounts of hazardous substances released to the air.
Itansport of benzene from gasoline to air near gas pump
1-7
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
• Naturally occurring radon, a hazardous substance in the ground, is
released into the air. If a house is built on this ground, radon released into
the air will enter the air inside the house.
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Transport of radon to indoor air
• Chemical
fertilizers run off
fields during
rainstorms into
streams or
rivers. These
substances may
be carried in the
water or in the
fish into
estuaries,
streams, or lakes
where people
fish or swim.
Transport of chemical fertilizer
to water used for recreation
1-6
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
• A truck carrying a liquid waste containing a hazardous substance to an in-
cinerator may be involved in a wreck. The hazardous substance is
released to the soil. Later, a rainstorm may wash the hazardous
substance into a nearby stream where it flows until it reaches the water
treatment plant for a nearby town. If the treatment process does not
remove the hazardous substance, it will end up in the town's drinking
water.
Transport of a hazardous
substance from accidental
release to drinking water
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
%
Determining Whether Hazardous Substances Are In Your Environment
Here are three examples to illustrate how you can determine whether a
particular hazardous substance is in your environment. In general, for a
hazardous substance to be in your environment you should be able to
identify a source, determine whether routine or accidental releases from
the source occur, and identify a pathway from the site of release to your
environment.
1. Is tobacco smoke, which contains 43 cancer-producing
substances, in your environment?
If you live with, work with, or spend your leisure time indoors around
smokers, tobacco smoke will be in the air you breathe. Even if you are in
another part of the building, natural air circulation patterns or heating/air-
conditioning systems can bring the smoke into your air.
2. Are cancer-causing chemicals, such as methylene chloride,
released from factories in your environment?
If you live within a few miles downwind of a factory that uses methylene
chloride in its manufacturing process and releases it to the air either
routinely or accidentally, it may well be in the air you breathe.
3. Are cancer-causing pesticides, such as Alar, used on foods in
your environment?
Alar is used by some apple growers to delay spoilage of red apples and to
give them a more uniform red color. Some of the pesticide remains on the
apples after they are sold to the consumer. Alar may be in your food if you
eat red apples.
Additional Reading
This chapter has identified some common sources of hazardous substances
and explained how these substances are released to the environment and
how they get into your air, water, or food. If you would like to know more
about this topic, the sources listed below would be a good place to start.
1-9
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1. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Air Pollution
Write to: Dr. Maria Pavlova
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II
26 Federal Plaza, Room 737
New York, NY 10278
or call: (212)264-2525
Routes of Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
Write to: Dr. Maria Pavlova
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II
26 Federal Plaza, Room 737
New York, NY 10278
or call: (212)264-2525
America's Wetlands—Our Vital Link Between
Land and Water
Write to: Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: (202) 382-2080
Environmental Progress and Challenges:
EPA's Update
Write to: Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: (202) 382-2080
1-10
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND
THE GOVERNMENT
HIGHLIGHTS:
• EPA has many responsibilities under federal environmental laws: setting and
enforcing standards, developing pollution control and measurement methods,
requiring the cleanup of polluted sites, informing the public, and planning for
emergencies.
• Government actions that benefit human health also impose costs on us as
consumers and taxpayers.
• Government actions to reduce people's exposure to hazardous substances,
while hlahlv effective, cannot totally eliminate these exposures.
Now that you are familiar with hazardous substances and how they can reach
your personal environment, you may want to know what the government is
doing to reduce people's exposure to these substances, in the past two
decades, the U.S. Congress has passed many laws to restore the environ-
ment and to protect the environment and people from further exposure to
hazardous substances. Each of these laws is geared toward reducing health
risks and covers a specific area of the environment. For example, different
laws cover pollution to the air, water, or land; pollution from products, such as
pesticides or chemicals; and pollution in the workplace.
Environmental Legislation
2-1
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
The environmental laws are carried out by several different federal and state
agencies.
• At the federal level, EPA administers most laws concerning pollution to the
outdoor environment and provides information on pollutants in the indoor
air of private and public dwellings.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has primary
responsibility for regulating indoor air in the workplace.
• The Department of Transportation (DOT) regulates hazardous substances
while they are in transit.
• The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) protects consumers
through proper labeling of products.
Since the beginning of the nuclear age, safe management and disposal of the
radioactive materials used by energy, defense, medicine, industry, and
research have presented a tremendous challenge to society. Several federal
agencies regulate various aspects of radioactive waste management.
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses and regulates
radioactive materials users and low-level radioactive waste disposal
facilities.
• EPA issues radiation emissions standards to protect the general public
from radiation exposures from low-level radioactive waste management
and disposal facilities.
• The Department of Transportation (DOT) regulates the shipment of
radioactive materials.
• The Department of Energy (DOE) governs the interstate compact system
of low-level radioactive waste facilities.
If you would like to know more about the major federal laws and the areas that
they address, refer to Table 2-1 on page 2-10.
EPA's Responsibilities
Once Congress enacts an environmental law, EPA must administer programs
in a number of areas to support the legislation. EPA's responsibilities include
• setting and enforcing standards,
• developing pollution control and measurement methods,
• requiring the cleanup of polluted sites,
2-2
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
• informing the public, and
• planning for emergencies.
Setting and Enforcing Standards
EPA's first step in carrying out the law is to set standards for environmental
quality based on the intent of the law. Different environmental laws state
different criteria for EPA to follow in developing standards. For example, the
Clean Air Act requires EPA to consider human health in setting standards for
key air pollutants while prohibiting EPA from considering the costs of meeting
those standards. In contrast, the Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA to
consider the costs to industry when setting drinking water standards.
Air Quality Standards Under the Clean Air Act
In the Clean Air Act, Congress requires EPA to develop a standard for pri-
mary air pollutants to allow an "adequate margin of safety ... requisite to
protect the public health." The agency first identifies the illnesses
associated with different amounts of exposure to each pollutant. They
then estimate how many people are exposed to each pollutant and how
likely they are to get one of these illnesses. These estimates form the
basis for setting pollution standards that protect the public health. The
primary air pollutants are ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide,
nitrogen dioxide, lead, and sulphur dioxide.
EPA develops and issues permits to facilities^ at emit substances into the air,
water, or land. The purpose of a permit is to ensure that the facility does not
violate the standard in the area. The permit usually limits the amounts and
types of pollutants that the facility can emit (emissions limitations). For exam-
ple, the permit may state the maximum amount of a substance that the facility
can discharge over a certain time period. The permit may also state various
steps the facility must take to lower emission levels, such as installing a filter-
ing system. An environmental permit often requires the facility to monitor
different pollutants. To ensure that a facility follows the requirements in its
permit, EPA has the right to inspect a facility and may fine the facility for
violations.
Environmental laws also allow EPA to limit the types of hazardous substances
that can be contained in pesticides and synthetic chemicals and products.
These laws require industry to test new products and submit information to
EPA about the health effects of the contents of the products marketing them.
Based on the results of these tests, EPA can limit the use of the product, ban
2-3
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
the product, or require that the product label contain information about the
hazards of the product.
Lead in the Environment
Most emissions of lead into the atmosphere are from one of three main
sources: automobiles and other vehicles, nonferrous smelters, and battery
plants. Historically, automotive emissions have been the primary source of
atmospheric lead. In the 1970's, EPA implemented two pollution control
programs that have significantly reduced the contribution of automotive
emissions to lead pollution. Consequently, the overall concentrations of
atmospheric lead have fallen dramatically.
One EPA program included the introduction of unleaded gasoline in 1975.
Since then, the percentage of unleaded gasoline in the gasoline market
has grown-—in 1987, unleaded gasoline accounted for 76 percent of all
gasoline sales. EPA has issued regulations that required a gradual
reduction of the lead content in gasoline. In July 1985, the lead content
was reduced from 1.0 gram per gallon to 0.5 gram per gallon, and in
January 1986 to 0.1 gram per gallon. As a result, the automotive
contributions to atmospheric lead pollution fell from 73 percent of all lead
emissions in 1985 to 37 percent in 1987.
In a study of 394 urban areas in 44 states, EPA found that total lead
emissions had been reduced by 83 percent from 1983 to 1987. EPA
credits the decrease in automotive emissions for 99 percent of this
improvement in air quality.
Developing Pollution Control and Measurement Methods
EPA conducts research programs to develop and test new ways to reduce the
sources of environmental risks. For example, the Superfund law establishes a
research budget to demonstrate new technologies for handling site cleanups.
The federal government and some state governments have set up programs
to reduce the volume of hazardous wastes shipped from plant sites. Hazard-
ous waste minimization programs in many states help businesses reduce the
amounts of hazardous waste produced.
Some state governments have started waste exchange programs for industry
in which companies can sell their wastes for other companies to use as inputs
rather than discard them as hazardous wastes. The Pollution Prevention
Office of EPA gives grants to states for the purpose of transferring information
on technological change between the government and the private sector.
2-4
/
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, . | . UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
I ? WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
*1 Pnd&
February 15, 1990
MEMORANDUM
TO: Addressees (Risk Communication Work Group)
FROM: Ann Fisher, Manager
Risk Communication Program, PM-221
SUBJECT: Review of Perspectives Booklet
OFFICE OF
POLICY, PLANNING AND EVALUATION
The attached draft just arrived. This is the fourth
version, and it responds to the comments we have received from
many enthusiastic reviewers of the earlier versions.
The turn-around for this version was fast—despite the large
set of commments—partly because we face time constraints for the
pretesting. We are fortunate to be working with John Perrecone
in Region V on the pretesting. He gathered baseline data last
month from his Citizens' Advisory Council (connected with the
Superfund site in Bloomington). This new draft was distributed
to them at their February 13 meeting. At their next meeting, we
plan to gather some follow-up data to see how their attitudes and
knowledge have changed after reading the booklet.
Allen Bassala of OAQPS also is doing some pretesting with a
dozen extension agents at North Carolina State University. He
will gather baseline data when he distributes the draft to them.
It would be great if we could do more pretesting with the
target group—the aware public, rather than the general public.
If you have any suggestions about some pretesting that we could
conduct quickly, please call me (FTS/382-5500).
Of course, I also welcome your comments on this draft.
Pending the outcome of the pretests, I expect to make one more
round of changes and then have a final version ready for
distribution. That means this is the last chance to get your
ideas incorporated. Please get your comments to me by March 26.
Attachment
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Addressees: Risk Communication Work Group Members:
Derry Allen
Karen Burgan
Karen Blanchard
David Klauder
Elaine Koerner
Cynthia Puskar
Mike Stahl
OPPE 382-2747
OSWER 382-4617
OAR 629-5503
ORD 382-7667
OPCA 382-4454
OW 475-8532
OPTS 382-3949
M3002
PM-221
S306F
OS-110
OAQPS
MD-13
W605
H8-105
W1001
A-108
E1030
WH-556
E545
TS-799
Wendy Butler
H-7506C 557-2805
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
Requiring the Cleanup of Polluted Sites
The Superfund law allows EPA to reduce the risks from hazardous wastes in
the environment by requiring the cleanup of sites where the environment is
already damaged by industrial activities. In some cases hazardous sub-
stances have been illegally dumped into the land or water and abandoned. In
other cases, the methods used for legal disposal of the wastes were inappro-
priate for protecting the environment. The chemicals or the runoff from the
chemicals may have entered the water supply or may be contaminating the air
or the soil.
Once a Superfund site is identified, EPA makes a concentrated effort to find
and encourage those responsible to fund necessary studies and to pay for the
cleanup. However, if an immediate problem threatens human health, welfare,
or the environment, EPA takes action under the Superfund cleanup program.
EPA can initiate either removal actions or remedial actions. Removal actions
are short-term actions to stabilize or clean up a hazardous site that poses an
immediate threat to human health or the environment. Typical removal
actions include removing tanks or drums of hazardous substances on the sur-
face, installing fencing or other security measures, and providing a temporary
alternative source of drinking water.
Remedial actions are the study, design, and construction of longer term and
usually more expensive actions aimed at permanent remedy. EPA can
respond this way for sites that are on the list of the nation's most serious
hazardous waste sites. Typical remedial responses include removing buried
wastes from the site, installing a clay "cap" over the site, constructing under-
ground wells to control movement of groundwater, performing on-site incinera-
tion or solidification of wastes, or providing an alternative source of drinking
water.
Cleanup of Superfund Site®
As of December 1989, EPA had completed long-term cleanup at 48 sites.
In addition, removal actions had been undertaken at 565 sites on the
national priority list. Remedial action had been undertaken at 257 sites.
EPA takes into account the number of people exposed at a given site and
seriousness of the health risk to those exposed in deciding which sites to
clean up first and what actions to take.
2-5
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
Informing the Public
EPA has developed programs to provide information to the public and busi-
nesses about regulatory requirements, environmental programs, procedures
to reduce exposure to hazardous substances, and the health effects of certain
hazardous substances. EPA has established several national hotlines to
answer questions about its rules and regulations under different laws. For
example, EPA funds the RCRA/Superfund hotline to answer questions about
solid and hazardous wastes. EPA also provides information through pub-
lished materials, training programs, and certification courses.
EPA and state governments collect the information on chemical inventories
and emissions supplied by manufacturers under the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know law. This information is intended for use by the
public and for community planners. Additional information can be found in
Chapter 8 of this guidebook. Table 8-1 provides telephone numbers and
addresses for EPA public information services and describes the types of
questions they can address. Table 8-2 presents a list of publications available
to the public from the federal government. Table 8-3 lists State-Designated
313 contacts who can provide additional information on emissions.
EPA's Information Program for Radon
EPA has developed the following programs and materials to educate the
public about the health risks of radon and what to do about them.
• A booklet for the public, A Citizen's Guide to
Radon: What It Is and What to Do About It,
published in conjunction with the Department
of Health and Human Services.
• A booklet for the public, Radon Reduction
Methods: A Homeowner's Guide.
« a report, Radon Measurement in Schools.
• A program to evaluate the proficiency of radon
testing procedures used by independent com-
panies.
• Training and certification courses to teach independent building contrac-
tors radon-free building methods and mitigation methods. Three region-
al training centers are being set up.
• Pilot programs to test new mitigation methods.
EPA works with state governments to distribute and disseminate these
materials and implement the programs.
A Citato* Guide
To Radon
What it )i
And What To Do
About tt
;i i 11
Trr
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
Planning for Emergencies
As required by federal law, local communities and state governments must
collect information submitted by certain types of facilities and use this infor-
mation to prepare for an emergency situation involving the unplanned release
of a hazardous substance. The law calls for the formation of local groups
called Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs), which prepare the
plan for responding to an emergency based on community resources. State
Emergency Response Commissions (SERCs) are also set up to assist and
coordinate activities of the local communities. (See Chapter 7 of this guide-
book for more information on LEPCs and SERCs.) Finally, EPA provides
assistance to the state and local organizations and publishes guidance docu-
ments on developing emergency plans.
The Benefits and Costs of Government Action
When the government cleans up abandoned dump sites, places stricter
controls on landfills or pesticide uses, or stops some very toxic wastes from
being generated, these actions benefit some people. As consumers and as
taxpayers, however, we pay for the costs of reducing exposure to hazardous
substances. The strong support for the environment in most polls suggests
that people believe these efforts to be important. Even so, EPA must consider
benefits and costs carefully when carrying out the responsibilities described
above.
While discussion of most of these benefits and costs is beyond the scope of
this guidebook, we summarize them on the next page to show the complexity
of issues involved in environmental legislation.
One of the benefits described on the next page—improved human health—is
the focus of this guidebook. By carrying out laws to reduce people's risk of
illness from exposure to hazardous substances, EPA improves human health.
Part II of this guidebook describes methods that have been developed to
estimate the human health benefits from reduced exposures to hazardous
substances.
2-7
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
Benefits and Costs of Environmental Programs
Benefits
• Improved human health. Reducing the amount and types of pollution
improves human health. These improvements range from fewer acute
illnesses such as asthma triggered by poor air quality to reduced risk of
chronic diseases such as cancer.
• Improved human welfare* Reducing pollution improves human well-
being. Cleaner water means more fishabie water bodies. A cleaner
environment means outdoor exercising and sport activities such as
boating and hiking are more enjoyable.
• Species preservation. Reducing pollution lowers the likelihood that
plant and animal species will be adversely affected.
• Improved aesthetics. Pollution can cause plants to lose leaves, spot,
or lose their flowers prematurely. Reducing the amount and types of
pollution can reduce these effects. Reduced pollution also may
increase visibility (reduce smog).
Costs
• Increased prices of goods and services. Laws requiring an industry
to use pollution control equipment often increase the industry's costs.
These cost increases tend to be passed along in higher prices for
products or services provided by that industry.
• Reduced a vail ability of goods and services. Bans on products that
are determined to be excessively harmful will mean these products are
not available.
• Reduced employment If installing pollution controls adds to the costs
of the plant so that a company in that industry can no longer make a
sufficient profit, a company may shut down a particular plant or reduce
the number of workers at a plant
• Reduced tax revenues. If a facility closes down or reduces its
production capabilities because of environmental laws, tax revenues
paid by the facility to the city, county, state, or federal government will
be lost.
• Reduced expenditures on other programs. Given a limited budget,
the use of government monies for environmental programs means
foregoing programs in other areas such as education or defense.
2-8
/
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
Many of the costs of environmental regulation are alleviated over time. Local
impacts such as reduced employment could be offset over the long term by
the growth of employment in companies that produce pollution reduction
equipment and services. Furthermore, laws that require pollution controls or
those that require bans on products may cause higher prices in the immediate
future on goods produced by that industry or may reduce the availability of
goods. Eventually these higher prices may encourage entrepreneurs to
discover new methods of production or new pollution-control technologies that
reduce pollution and are less costly, or new products that are less harmful
than existing ones.
The DDT Ban and Bald Eagles
By the early 1970's, the toll of hunting, pesticide use, and disappearing
habitat had almost diminished North America's bald eagle population to
the point of extinction. At that time, scientists could only identify 800
breeding pairs of bald eagles still in existence. Pesticides, especially DDT,
were particularly devastating to the species because they caused female
birds to lay eggs with shells so thin that they broke under the weight of
nesting. As a result, few eaglets survived.
Since the EPA's ban on DDT in 1972, a remarkable resurgence in the bald
eagle population has occurred. Today, wildlife researchers can identify
more than 2,200 pairs that breed in the continental United States. Most of
these seem to produce normal eggs. Although the bald eagle remains an
endangered species, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials are optimistic about
the possibility of removing it from the endangered species list.
Effectiveness of Government Actions
Although the government has developed a wide variety of programs to limit
environmental risks, there are limits to the effectiveness of these programs.
• Enforcement is difficult and expensive.
• The government cannot eliminate accidental releases of substances by
industry; however, facilities that routinely have accidental releases may
come under increased scrutiny especially because of the new reporting
requirements under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-
Know Act.
• Pollution control devices, such as catalytic converters on automobiles, are
only effective for controlling air pollution if they are properly maintained.
• The government cannot control improper use of pesticides or other
consumer products by private citizens.
2-9
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
Many people may be willing to accept the limitations of government programs
but others, maybe yourself, want to do more—either by taking some
immediate personal action or getting involved in longer term community
actions to further reduce exposures to hazardous substances. Part III of this
guidebook introduces some of these actions and tells you where to go for
more information on hazardous substances and their effects on human health.
Table 2-1. Areas Addressed Under Major Federal Environmental Laws
Area
Law
Year
Description of law
Enforcement
Agency
Air
Clean Air Act
1977
Limits pollution including
radioactive emissions into the
outdoor air from factories, power
plants, cars, and other major
sources of air pollution.
EPA
Drinking
water
Safe Orinking
Water Act
1974
Establishes national standards for
drinking water quality from both
surface and groundwater sources.
EPA
Water
Clean Water Act
1977
Limits pollution into lakes, rivers,
and streams from factories or
municipal sewage treatment plants
and from storm runoff.
EPA
Marine Protection,
Research, and
Sanctuaries Act
1972
Limits the dumping of wastes into
the ocean.
EPA
Land
disposal
Resource
Conservation and
Recovery Act
1976
Establishes standards for the
disposal of solid and hazardous
wastes to the land from most
sources.
EPA
Comprehensive
Environmental
Response, Com-
pensation, and
Liability Act (or
Superfund)
1980
Requires the cleanup of hazardous
substances released into the air,
surface and groundwater. Imposes
liability requirements on parties
responsible for waste sites and
establishes a fund for cleaning up
abandoned sites.
EPA
Food
Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act
1975
Limits how much pesticide residues
can be contained in food for
humans and animals.
EPA
(continued)
2-10
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
Table 2-1. Areas Addressed Under Major Federal Environmental Laws (continued)
Area
Law
Year
Description of law
Enforcement
Agency
Food
(con-
tinued)
Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act
1975
Limits the contamination or adul-
teration of food.
FDA
Products
The Federal
Insecticide, Fungi-
cide, and Rodenti-
cide Act
1975
Sets safety standards for pesticide
products and allows EPA to restrict
or ban substances that do not meet
those standards.
EPA
Toxic Substances
Control Act
1976
Sets standards for the manufac-
ture, use, and disposal of synthetic
chemicals.
EPA
Hazardous
Substances
Labeling Act
1976
Establishes information require-
ments for the labels of consumer
products such as soaps, deter-
gents, cleansers, bleaches,
polishes, paints, hobby products,
oils, automotive products, and
solvents.
CPSC
Workplace
Occupational Safe-
ty and Health Act
1970
Sets health and safety standards
for workplace environments.
OSHA
Transpor-
tation
Hazardous Materi-
als Transportation
Act
1970
Sets standards for the shipment of
hazardous materials.
DOT
Informa-
tion
Emergency Plan-
ning and Com-
munity Right-to-
Know Act—Title III
of the Superfund
Amendment and
Reauthorization
Act
1986
Requires many factories and
businesses to report information to
the government about chemical
inventories and the emissions of
certain chemicals.
EPA, state,
and local
govern-
ments
Agency key:
EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
FDA Food and Drug Administration
C PSC Consumer Product Safety Com mission
OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration
DOT Department of Transportation
2-11
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2. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE GOVERNMENT
Additional Reading
This chapter has provided the information you need to have a basic under-
standing of government actions to reduce people's exposure to hazardous
substances. If you would like to know more about this topic, the sources listed
below would be a good place to start.
Environmental Progress and Challenges:
EPA's Update
Write to: Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: (202) 382-2080
Trends In the Quality of the Nation's Air
Write to: Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: (202) 382-2080
Waste Minimization: Environmental Quality
With Economic Benefits
Write to: RCRA/Superfund Hotline
OSW/OPMS Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: 1-800-424-9346
In Washington, DC: (202) 382-3000
The New Superfund: What It Is, How It Works
Write to: Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: (202) 382-2080
2-12
I
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PART II:
Your Exposure and Risk
CHAPTER 3:
Estimating Your Environmental Exposures
CHAPTER 4:
Estimating Risks
CHAPTERS:
Judging the Seriousness of Risks
-------
3. ESTIMATING YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
ESTIMATING YOUR
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
HIGHLIGHTS:
Exposure depends on the amount of the hazardous substance in your
environment and how long it stays there.
The amount of a hazardous substance in your environment can either be
measured directly or estimated using mathematical models.
Your daily dose of a hazardous substance is the amount taken into your body
from your environment each day.
Your daily dose is an important determinant of whether or not the hazardous
substance will make you ill.
Estimating Exposure: An Overview
As we have seen in Chapter 1, natural and manmade hazardous substances
are all around us. However, these substances will not necessarily make you
ill. Whether they do or not depends on your exposure. Your exposure is the
amount of the substance that actually gets taken into your body from the air
you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, and the soil you touch.
Thus, a first step in determining whether you should be concerned about
hazardous substances in your environment is to estimate your daily intakes or
doses of these substances for your lifetime.
Your daily contact
with your environment
Amount of hazardous
substance in your
environment each day
of your life
3-1
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3. ESTIMATING YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
To estimate your daily dose of hazardous substances you first need to know
the amounts of the hazardous substance that are in your air, water, food, and
soil each day of your life. Then you need to know the amounts of air, water,
food, and soil that you take into your body each day.
Estimating the Amount of Hazardous Substances in Your Environment
Direct monitoring measures the actual concentration of hazardous substances
in your environment at different points in time. These measures are obtained
by taking samples of indoor or outdoor air, water, food, or soil and looking at
their chemical composition in the laboratory. For example, EPA operates air
and water monitoring stations in most cities in the United States. The Food
and Drug Administration regularly collects samples of fresh fruits and
vegetables and tests them for illegal pesticide residues.
The Environmental Radiation Ambient Monitoring System is one of many
monitoring systems maintained by EPA. Under this program scientists
collect and analyze samples of air, water, and milk taken from locations
across the nation. After the 1987 Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union,
EPA increased the sampling frequency of this monitoring system.
Mathematical modeling provides an alternative approach for estimating the
concentrations of hazardous substances. Mathematical models use
Monitoring
hazardous
substances
Radiation Ambient Monitoring System
3-2
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3. ESTIMATING YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
mathematical formulas to estimate the concentrations of a hazardous sub-
stance at different distances from the point of release. The formulas are
different depending on whether the pathway from the source to the exposed
person is through air, surface water, or groundwater. In all the formulas, the
concentration at the point of exposure depends on the amount of the
hazardous substance released to the environment. EPA routinely uses
mathematical models to estimate the amounts of hazardous substances in
your air.
Modeling the dispersion of hazardous substances
Because both the direct monitoring and modeling approaches have limitations
for estimating environmental concentrations, it is best to combine them, if
possible. This can be done by comparing modeling estimates with direct
monitoring measurements for at least part of the geographic area and part of
the time period under investigation.
Comparing Monitoring and Modeling Estimates
EPA has estimated the concentrations of 10 hazardous substances in the
air at 10 different locations in Philadelphia using both the monitoring and
modeling approaches. They found that the modeling approach gave
somewhat lower estimates of the concentration for all the hazardous
substances. These results Illustrate the difficulty that engineers have in
identifying all sources and in accurately measuring releases. However,
these difficulties are compensated for by the feet that the modeling
approach can derive concentration estimates for all locations in
Philadelphia, whereas the monitoring estimates are restricted to the 10 sites
where the monitors are placed:
3-3
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3^jSTIMATIN^£0U^ENVIR0NMENTA^EXP0SURES
Estimating Your Daily Doses
The three ways that hazardous substances can enter your body are through
• your lungs from the air you breathe;
• your digestive tract from the food you eat, water you drink, or particles
from the soil or air that you swallow; and
• your skin from the hazardous substances you touch or the water you
wash in.
Pathways through which hazardous substances can enter the body
The amount of each hazardous substance actually taken in by each exposed
person in one day is referred to here as the daily dose. Several quantities
affect how much of a hazardous substance in your environment is actually
taken into your body each day. Some of these are how much water you drink
and air you breathe each day and the how easily the hazardous substance
can pass through your lungs, digestive tract, or skin into your blood stream.
EPA has developed conversion factors for computing daily doses at various
concentrations of the hazardous substance in your environment.
3-4
/
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3. ESTIMATING YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
Computing Daily Dose from Exposure Concentrations:
Conversion Factors Used in EPA Studies
If we know how much of a hazardous substance is in your environment, we
can multiply by the appropriate conversion factor to find out how much you
take into your body through a particular type of exposure:
• Water drunk per day » 2 liters (approximately eight 8-oz glasses
including the water in coffee, soda, etc.)
• Air breathed per day - 20 cubic meters (approximate volume of air in a
small bedroom or den)
• Fish eaten per week (1 portion)« 224 grams (approximately 7 ounces)
• Soil eaten per day (by child) - 100 milligrams (0.004 ounces)
• Percentage of hazardous substance in contact with lung or digestive
tract taken into body (absorption rate) -100%
Daily doses may vary over people's lifetime for several reasons. For example,
people may live near a chemical factory for the first 20 years of their life and
then move to a different neighborhood. Alternatively, the daily dose may
depend on activity patterns that vary with age, such as the daily intake of
pesticides in foods that are eaten more by children than by adults. Finally,
daily dose may vary over a lifetime because of variations in the amounts of the
hazardous substance in the environment over time.
In general, a short exposure is less dangerous than a longer exposure at the
same daily dose level. In addition, if two people are exposed to the same total
dose over a lifetime, but have different daily doses at different ages, they may
experience different health effects. This is because people may be more
susceptible to health effects at some ages than at others.
3-5
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3. ESTIMATING YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
Your Exposures to Some Hazardous Substances
If you want to know what your health risks are from a hazardous substance
in your environment, you must first estimate your amount of exposure. Here
are some examples of how researchers have estimated your likely
exposures for hazardous substances that have been in the news.
1. What is your exposure to tobacco smoke, containing 43 cancer-
producing substances?
If you live or work with smokers, researchers have estimated that your
average daily dose of tobacco tar (from tobacco smoke) is 1.43 milligrams
per day for your 50 adult years. To get this estimate, the amount of tar
released to the air when one average tar cigarette is smoked was measured
and multipled by the estimated number of cigarettes smoked per hour in the
home and in the workplace. A mathematical model was used to convert
these estimates of the hourly releases of tar into estimates of the
concentration of tar in indoor air at home and at work. Finally, estimates of
breathing rates and lengths of time spent at home and at work were used to
convert the concentration of tar in the air into a daily dose. Your daily dose
of tar may be higher or lower than average depending on whether your
exposure factors are more or less than average.
2. What is your exposure to cancer-causing chemicals released from
factories near your home, such as methylene chloride released
from a nearby chemical factory?
If you live and work within a mile downwind of a chemical factory that
routinely releases 183,000 lb of methylene chloride to the air each year, the
concentration in your air may be as high as 0.12 milligrams per cubic meter
according to mathematical modeling estimates. At these concentrations,
your daily dose will be 2.4 milligrams per day, assuming a breathing rate of
20 cubic meters per day. On the other hand, if you live and work between 1
and 2 miles from the factory, modeling results indicate that your daily dose
will be no higher than 0.011 milligrams per day. Thus, you can see that
your exposure falls rapidly as your distance from the source increases.
Also, if you only spend part of your day near the factory, your exposure will
be even less.
3. What Is your exposure to cancer-causing pesticides used on
foods, such as Alar used on red apples?
The Food and Drug Administration has measured the amount of Alar found
in a red apple that has been treated with this pesticide. You take in 0.0028
milligrams each time you eat a treated apple. The Natural Resources
Defense Council has estimated that children under five eat 3 ounces of
apple products per day. Thus, the average daily dose for young children is
0.0017 milligrams. Of course, if a child never eats red apples, they will not
be exposed to Alar.
3-6
4.
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3. ESTIMATING YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
Selected Exposure Estimates
To give you some further examples of exposures that EPA has estimated,
Table 3-1 presents estimates for eight other hazardous substances that may
be in your environment. All the exposure scenarios shown in the table
assume a person has a constant daily dose for a lifetime. All the estimates
are for a specific U.S. community. Your community may be exposed to lower,
higher, or roughly the same amounts of these substances. For example, if
there are no factories using asbestos in your community, you will not be
exposed to asbestos from this type of source. If your drinking water comes
from a well, it will not contain chloroform. And if you live in a very small town
or rural area, your benzene exposure will be far below that of people who live
near busy intersections.
The exposure estimates in Table 3-1 provide some examples that have been
generated using the methods described in this chapter. However, you cannot
tell by looking at these numbers whether such exposures are likely to harm
your health. You can only conclude that, for example, your daily dose of
benzene is likely to be higher than your daily dose of asbestos. The next
chapter describes the methods EPA and other organizations and government
agencies use to convert exposure estimates, like those in Table 3-1, into
estimates of health risks.
3-7
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3. ESTIMATING YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
Table 3-1. Selected Daily Doses for Eight Hazardous Substances
Hazardous
substance
Amount in environment
Daily dose
per person
Asbestos from
factory producing
asbestos-
containing pipe
0.01 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) estimated 0.2 micrograms per day (meg/day)
in air near factory
Benzene from cars
at very busy inter-
section or from
landfill
22.3 mcg/m3 monitored in air at intersection or near
landfill
450 meg/day
Carbon
tetrachloride from
chemical factory
28 mcg/m3 maximum concentration estimated in air
near factory
560 meg/day
Chloroform from
disinfection
of drinking water
47.7 micrograms per liter (mcg/L) measured in
drinking water
95 meg/day
Chloroform from
chemical factory
100 mcg/m3 maximum concentration estimated in air
near factory
2,000 meg/day
Formaldehyde
from chemical
factory
1.0 mcg/m3 estimated in air near factory
20 meg/day
Perchloro-
ethylene from
sewage treatment
plant
36.5 mcg/m3 maximum concentration monitored near
sewage treatment plant
730 meg/day
Perchloro-
ethylene from dry
cleaners
10.2 mcg/m3 maximum concentration monitored in air
in two cities
200 meg/day
Radon from
underground
deposits
0.004 Working Levels monitored in air in homes in
two states
6.0 Working
Level Months
Xylene from car
exhaust
30.4 mcg/m3 maximum concentration monitored in air
in two cities
610 meg/day
Notes: 1,000,000 micrograms (meg) - 1,000 milligrams - 1 gram - 0.035 ounces; 1 cubic meter (m3) - 35 cubic feet;
1 liter (L) - 1,06 quarts
Conversion factors 20 m3/day - air breathed per day
for computing daily 2 L/day - water drunk per day
dose: 100% - absorption rate for lungs and digestive tract
Working Levels and Working Level Months are used as the units of radon exposure. They are based on
miners' exposures. 0.004 Working Level is equivalent to 0.8 picocuries/liter of radon.
These'daily dose estimates are for a specific community. The daily doses for people in your community may
be higher, lower, or the same as these depending on whether your community containing the same sources
of hazardous substances as this community.
________ I
3-8
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3. ESTIMATING YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
Additional Reading
This chapter has provided the information you need to have a basic under-
standing of how the EPA and other organizations estimate people's exposure
to hazardous substances. If you would like to know more about this topic, the
sources listed below would be a good place to start.
The Routes of Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
Write to: Dr. Maria Pavlova
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II
26 Federal Plaza, Room 737
New York, NY 10278
or call: (212)264-2525
Toxic Chemicals: What They Are, How They
Affect You
Write to: Dr. Maria Pavlova
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II
26 Federal Plaza, Room 737
New York, NY 10278
or call: (212)264-2525
The Risk Assessment Manual: A Guide to Understanding and
Using Health and Environmental Assessments by B. Brockbank,
J. Conrsson, and V. T. Covello, 1988
Write to: National Technological Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
or call: (703) 487-4650
Cost: $18.50
Chemical Risks: A Primer by Kathleen Ream
Chemical Risks: Personal Decisions by Susan Turner
Chemical Risk Communications by William Beranek
and Susan Turner
Write to: Department of Government Relations and Science Policy
115516th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
or call: (202) 872-4386
3-9
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
ESTIMATING
RISKS
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Scientists use both human and animal data to study the risks from hazardous
substances.
• EPA uses weight-of-evidence to compare the strength of information about the
risks from hazardous substances.
• Estimating the relationship between daily dose and the risk of illness is crucial
to determining risk.
• Limited Information about the risks of hazardous substances makes it harder to
evaluate risks.
• Risks of illness from particular exposures are estimated by combining estimates
of the daily dose with the dose-risk of illness estimates.
In general, the greater your exposure to a hazardous substance, the greater
your risk of illness. However, your risk of illness is also determined by the
types of harm that the substance can cause and the amount that is
required to harm your health.
Everyone who is exposed to a hazardous substance has an increased risk of
illness, but only in very unusual circumstances will everyone actually become
ill. For example, ail people exposed to low levels of certain pesticides in food
have an increased risk of cancer, but only one person out of every one hun-
dred thousand exposed may be expected to get cancer as a result of the pes-
ticide exposure. The increased risk of illness is very low in this case, in
contrast, most people exposed to high levels of cyanide compounds will die.
Their increased risk of death is very high.
In this chapter we describe the process that researchers have developed to
estimate the risk of illness from a particular exposure. This process involves
first identifying the illnesses likely to be caused by hazardous substances,
then estimating the relationships between extra risks of illness and different
Estimating Risk of Illness: An Overview
4-1
-------
4. ESTIMATING RISKS
daily doses. These relationships are used to convert estimates of your daily
dose into estimates of your extra risks of illness.
Identify illnesses
jHHMMf
BE
Estimate dose-risk relationships
ft
^vRBHHbi"
>A~'a V .
Estimate your extra risks of illnesses |
Identifying Illnesses
Exposure to hazardous substances has been associated with an increased
risk of many illnesses:
Premature death • Nervous system damage
Cancers • Kidney damage
Birth defects • Liver damage
Impaired fertility • Anemia
Hyperactivity in children • Skin diseases
Hazardous Substances and Harmful Health Effects—
Some Examples
Cyanide from chemical factories can cause immediate death even in small
amounts.
Lead from factories and gasoline can cause anemia, behavioral problems
in children, and IQ deficits. At very high levels of exposure, lead can
cause immediate death.
Benzene from gasoline can cause leukemia as well as other blood
disorders. At very high levels of exposure, benzene can cause immediate
death.
Radon from underground deposits, tobacco smoke, and asbestos from
factories can cause lung cancer.
Aflatoxin from nuts and grains can cause liver cancer.
Methylene chloride from chemical factories and the pesticide Alar can
cause cancer.
High exposures either have immediate health effects that can be very serious,
such as death, or less serious effects, such as a skin rash or throat irritation.
/
4-2
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
High exposures may also aggravate existing health conditions such as asthma
or bronchitis. The health effects of low exposures are usually not apparent
until many years after the exposure started. Such delayed health effects
range from cancer and other major problems to mild anemia and other less
serious effects.
Data from human studies provide the most compelling evidence that hazard-
ous substances cause particular illnesses. Some of this evidence comes from
doctors reporting an unusual number of cases of a specific illness in exposed
individuals, for example, finding several cases of leukemia in workers exposed
to benzene. More formal human studies compare illnesses for people with
different levels of exposure. For example, one study compared the number of
cases of leukemia in rubber workers exposed to benzene on-the-job and in a
comparable group of nonexposed workers.
Human information is very limited for most hazardous substances and is
usually supplemented by information from animal studies.
At low exposure level*
At medium exposure levels
At high exposure levels
Cancer case
Comparison of cancer caaea In rata expoaed to different levela of benzene
4-3
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
Animal studies usually include
• short-term tests to determine the dose levels that may be immediately
fatal;
• longer term studies to identify other illnesses likely to occur at lower
exposure levels and to identify exposure levels below which there are no
health effects; and
• lifetime or special studies to determine whether prolonged low-level
exposures to the hazardous substance are associated with increased risks
of specific illnesses such as cancer or birth defects.
Animal studies offer two advantages over human information: exposures can
be controlled, and cause and effect relationships can be determined.
Animal experiments are used to estimate risk of illness in humans because the
human health effects from exposure to a hazardous substance are generally
the same as the health effects in other animals. For example, scientists have
found that all hazardous substances shown to cause cancer in humans also
cause cancer in at least one other animal species.
There are limits to relying only on animal studies, however. Most importantly,
scientists have found that some hazardous substances may cause cancer in
one or more mammalian species but not in humans. So the effect of a
hazardous substance on humans is uncertain when there is only information
from animal experiments.
To describe the level of certainty about whether exposure to a specific
hazardous substance causes or does not cause an illness, EPA has set up
weight-of-evidence categories. These categories are based on the quality and
availability of evidence from human and animal studies. We use this informa-
tion in the risk table (Table 4-1) presented later in this chapter. When reading
Table 4-1, you may want to refer back to the box that follows.
4-4
/
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
EPA's Weight-of-Evldence Categories for Cancer
For cancer-producing substances EPA's weight-of-evidence categories are
asfollows:
A - causes cancer in humans—good human and animal evidence
B1 - probably causes cancer in humans—good animal evidence in
more than one species and some supporting human evidence
B2 - probably causes cancer in humans—good animal evidence in
more than one species but little or no human evidence
C - possibly causes cancer in humans—good animal evidence in one
species only or suggestive animal evidence in several species and
no human evidence
D do not Know whether it causes cancer in humans—inadequate
evidence or no evidence
E - does not cause cancer in humans—human and animal evidence
indicating that there is no relationship between exposure and
excess risk of cancer
For example, benzene, a chemical released in car exhaust fumes, belongs
to category A, while chloroform, a chemical produced when drinking water
is disinfected, belongs to category B2.
Estimating the Dose-Risk Relationship
Risks are the statistical probabilities of getting an illness. Individual risks of
illness are measured by the proportion of the population that is expected to get
ill. For example, the individual risk of getting cancer as a worker in an
asbestos factory in the 1930's and 1940's was as high as one in a hundred
(1/100). However, the risk of getting cancer from exposure to the lower levels
of asbestos in the air near such a factory was much lower—only one in ten
thousand (1/10,000).
Sometimes scientists compare the severity of different risks by looking at the
expected occurrences of the illness for the total exposed population. For
example, in 100,000 people exposed to high levels of asbestos, we would
expect to observe 1,000 (100,000 x 1/100) extra cases of cancer. For the
same 100,000 people exposed only to low levels of asbestos, we would
expect to observe only 10 (100,000 x 1/10,000) extra cases of cancer.
4-5
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
A dose-response relationship provides a mathematical formula or graph for
computing a person's risk of getting ill at each exposure level for a hazardous
substance. Determining the general shape of the dose-response curve
requires scientific knowledge about the action of hazardous substances on
human cells. The specific shape of the curve is determined from either human
studies, animal studies, or both. To estimate a dose-response relationship,
measurements of health risks are needed for a minimum of two different dose
levels of the hazardous substance.
There is one important difference between the dose-response curve used for
estimating the risk of cancer and the ones used for estimating the risk of all
other illnesses—the size of the threshold dose; that is, the dose below which
there is no risk of illness.
Since scientists believe that a single cancerous cell is sufficient to cause a
clinical case of cancer, dose-response models for cancer assume that the
threshold dose level for cancer is zero. In other words, people's risk of cancer
is increased even at very low doses. On the other hand, scientists have
observed that the human body is capable of adjusting to varying amounts of
other types of cell damage without showing signs of illness. Therefore, dose-
response models for noncancer illnesses include a threshold dose level that is
greater than zero. For noncancer health effects, such as permanent liver or
kidney damage, temporary skin rashes, or asthma attacks, available human or
animal data are used to estimate the threshold dose levels.
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
For cancer-causing substances, EPA uses a linear dose-response rela-
tionship. The linear model gives higher estimates of the risks of getting cancer
at low dose levels than most other usable mathematical models. With a linear
model, the level of cancer risk increases at a constant rate as the dose level
increases. This rate is known as the potency factor for the hazardous sub-
stance. We use this potency factor later in Table 4-1, which compares the
risks from various hazardous substances.
0
Dally Doaa
Canoar Doaa-Raaponaa Curvaa
For noncancer illness, because of the uncertainties when converting from
animal to human data, and because individuals vary in their susceptibility to
the harmful effects of hazardous substances, EPA adjusts the observed
thresholds downward by dividing by safety factors that range from 10 to 1,000.
The adjusted threshold is known as a reference dose. Below the reference
dose, there is no risk of harmful health effects for even the most susceptible
person.
Rateranaa Ooaa
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—— Nonllnaar
0
Dally Doaa
Noocancar Poaa-Raaponaa Curvaa
4-7
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
Computing Your Risks of Illness
The estimated dose-response relationships for hazardous substances can be
combined with your estimated daily doses to estimate your risk of illness. The
methods used to combine dose-response relationships and daily doses range
from very simple to quite complex. Each method makes different assumptions
about the shapes of the dose-response relationships and about the variability
of daily dose over your lifetime.
The simplest method for cancer assumes your daily dose is constant for your
complete lifetime and uses a linear dose-response relationship. For
noncancer effects, the simplest method assumes no risk below the reference
(adjusted threshold) dose and a positive but unknown risk above that dose.
Your Health Risks from Some Hazardous Substances
Your extra cancer risks from exppsure to a hazardous substance can be
estimated by multiplying your estimated exposure by a cancer potency
factor. Here are some examples of your health risks for hazardous
substances that have been in the news.
1. What is your extra cancer risk from exposure to tobacco smoke
containing 43 cancer-producing substances?
If you live or work with smokers, researchers have estimated that your
extra cancer risk is 365/100,000. In other words, 365 extra cases of
cancer are expected for every 100,000 persons exposed to an average
daily dose of tobacco tar of 1.43 milligrams for their 50 adult years. These
extra cases are in addition to the 20,000 cases of cancer expected in this
population of 100,000 from other causes.
2. What is your health risk from exposure to cancer-causing
chemicals released from factories that you live near, such as
methylene chloride released from a nearby chemical factory?
Your extra cancer risk if you live and work within a mile downwind of the
chemical factory is estimated as 6/100,000 or 6 extra cases of cancer in
every 100,000 people exposed at these levels. If you live between 1 and 2
miles from the factory , your extra risk falls to 0.6/100,000 or less than one
case per 100,000 people exposed. These cancer risks are much lower
than those in Example 1 from passive smoking.
3. What is your exposure to cancer-causing pesticides used on
foods, such as Alar used on red apples?
Your extra cancer risks from Alar eaten with red apples in your first six
years of life is estimated by the Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) as 24/100,000. Given the 22 million preschool children, 5,280
excess cancers are expected. These excess cancers will probably not
occur in childhood.
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
Limitations of Risk-of-lllness Estimates
Scientists must make assumptions because they lack sufficient information on
how hazardous substances actually harm human cells. Because of these
assumptions, the estimated health risks are likely to be much different than the
true health risks.
When information is missing or uncertain, or more than one alternative model
is possible, EPA uses the alternative that will result in reasonable worst case
estimates of health risks—that is, the risks are very unlikely to be any higher
than the EPA estimates. In particular, EPA
• uses a linear dose-response model for cancer-producing substances
because this model is unlikely to underestimate the true cancer risks at low
dose levels;
• uses safety factors from 10 to 1,000 to adjust observed threshold dose
levels downward to reference doses (for noncancer-producing
substances)—this is likely to overstate the number of people exposed to
harmful levels of the hazardous substance; and
• assumes lifetime exposures when data on exposure duration are
unavailable—this may overstate the number of years an individual is
exposed to the hazardous substance.
When available evidence is incomplete, different groups may come up with
different estimates of the health risks from a specific hazardous substance.
Different Risk Estimates for Alar: EPA and NRDC
Different groups may come up with different estimates of the illness risks,
depending on how they interpret the available evidence. This has hap-
pened in the case of estimates of the lifetime increased cancer risk from
children eating apples treated with the pesticide Alar.
EPA's estimates of the extra lifetime cancer risks are 25 times lower than
Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC's) estimates because of
• differences in the assumed exposure duration—EPA assumed 1.5
years and NRDC assumed 6 years;
• differences in estimated daily dose levels—EPA used evidence from a
1977-1978 food consumption survey of 30,000 persons, while NRDC
use
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
Selected Examples of EPA's Risk Estimates
For selected hazardous substances, this section presents EPA's estimates for
three types of health risks:
• cancer risks from lifetime exposures,
• noncancer risks from lifetime exposures, and
• noncancer risks from short-term exposures.
As noted earlier, EPA's reasonable worst-case risk estimates only
approximate the true risks because of the limited information available.
Cancer Risks from Prolonged Exposures
Using standard methods, it is possible to see the relative magnitudes of
cancer risks from exposure to some common hazardous substances. Table
4-1 shows the risks calculated for lifetime (70 year) exposures except for
tobacco smoke assuming 50 years of exposure. The estimated cancer cases
are calculated by multiplying EPA's potency factors, shown in Column 2 as the
extra cancer cases expected at an exposure of 1 microgram per cubic meter
(mcg/m3), by the environmental levels shown in Column 4. The cancer risks
are measured for a group of 100,000 people and assume a daily breathing
rate of 20 cubic meters and an average weight of 70 kilograms (154 pounds).
All the estimates of cancer cases are in addition to the 20,000 cancers
expected from all other causes in this group of 100,000 people.
The first column shows the common hazardous substances and their sources.
The second column shows the extra cases of cancer for the same exposure
levels of different hazardous substances (1 mcg/m3)—that is, cancer potency
factor. Comparing the numbers in the second column, we can see that
exposure of 100,000 people to asbestos at 1 mcg/m3 is estimated to result in
1,036 extra cases of cancer, while exposure to benzene at the same level is
estimated to result in less than one extra case. Thus, asbestos is a much
more potent cancer-causing agent than benzene.
The third column gives the EPA's weight-of-evidence categories (see box on
page 4-5) for each substance. For both asbestos and benzene there is good
human evidence (category A). However, comparing benzene and chloroform
shows that, although chloroform is more potent than benzene, only animal
evidence of cancer is available for chloroform (category B2), while both animal
and human evidence are available for benzene (category A).
The fourth and fifth columns present actual environmental exposure levels and
excess cancer estimates for 100,000 persons exposed, respectively. The
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
cancer estimates show that the most potent substances, such as asbestos,
are not necessarily the most dangerous because of their generally low envi-
ronmental levels. The risks associated with the less potent tobacco smoke
are significantly greater because of the higher environmental levels. Radon is
also a significant health threat.
You may know that you will be exposed to a particular hazardous substance
for only part of your life—for example, 20 years. For the cancer-producing
substances in Table 4-1, your extra cancer risk can be roughly approximated
by scaling down the lifetime estimates. For example, if you are exposed for
only 20 years of your average 70 year life, the estimated risk of cancer from
exposure to 1 microgram per cubic meter is approximately 0.286 (20 years/70
years) times the value in column 2.
Noncancer Risks from Prolonged Exposures
Not all hazardous substances are associated with extra cancer risks. Lifetime
exposure to hazardous substances may result in many other types of damage
to your health. These health effects can vary a great deal in their seriousness,
from increasing your risk of premature death or permanent damage to kidney,
liver, and brain, to increasing your risk of getting a mild skin rash or an asthma
attack. Hazardous substances also can have harmful effects on unborn
children, either reducing the chance of a live birth or increasing the risk of birth
defects. Hazardous substances that can increase your risk of cancer may
also increase your risks of these other harmful health effects.
For selected hazardous substances, column 2 of Table 4-2 presents EPA's
estimates of adjusted threshold exposure levels (reference doses) in air for the
health effects listed in column 3. These are the dose levels below which there
is no risk of the specific harmful effect on people breathing the air. Column 3
presents the body system that is at risk above each threshold level.
Hazardous substances with lower thresholds (for example, carbon tetrachlo-
ride and chloroform) can be considered more dangerous. Scientists do not
have enough information at this time to estimate how the risk and degree of
seriousness of the health effects vary at different exposure levels above the
threshold level for most hazardous substances. It is known that the extra risk
and degree of seriousness will increase with increasing exposure levels and at
different rates for different substances. For example, the risk of liver damage
rises at a faster rate with increasing levels of carbon tetrachloride than it does
for methylene chloride.
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
Table 4-1. Number of Extra Cancer Cases Expected over a Lifetime if 100,000
People Were Exposed to 1 microgram per cubic meter (mcg/m3) of
Hazardous Substances and to Selected Environmental Levels of
Hazardous Substances
Hazardous
substance
Potency
factor
(extra cases
per 100,000
people at
1 mcg/m3)
Weight-
of-
evidence
category
Extra cancer
cases per
100,000
people at
environ-
Environmental mental
levels levels
Asbestos from a cement-
pipe factory
1,036
A
0.01 mcg/m3
10
Benzene from car exhaust
0.8
A
22.3 mcg/m3
19
Carbon tetrachloride
from a chemical factory
1.5
B2
28 mcg/m3
42
Chloroform in drinking
water
2.3
B2
47.7 meg/liter
11
Tobacco smoke in indoor
air
5.1
A
71.5 mcg/m3
365
Formaldehyde from
building materials
1.3
B1
1.0 mcg/m3
1.3
Methylene chloride from
a chemical factory
0.05
B2
117 mcg/m3
5.9
Perchloroethylene
from dry cleaning
0.05
B2
36.5 mcg/m3
1.8
Radon in indoor air
35
(per WLM)
A
7 WLMs
241
Notes: Potency factor assumes a breathing rate of 20 cubic meters per day and water consumption of 2
liters per day.
1 mcg/m3 - 1 microgram per cubic meter
- 1 millionth of a gram per cubic meter.
1 gram - .035 ounces; 1 cubic meter - 35 cubic feet -
volume of cooking stove
Working-Level Month (WLM) - the standard unit of measure for environmental levels of radon.
See page 4-5 for an explanation of the weight-of-evidence categories.
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
Table 4-2. Adjusted Threshold Levels for Noncancer Health Effects and Noncancer
Effects from Selected Environmental Levels of Hazardous Substances
Example exposure scenario
Hazardous
substance
Adjusted
threshold
in air
(mcg/m3)*
Noncancer
health effects/
organ damage
Environmental
levels
Noncancer
health
effects
Benzene from
car exhaust
41.30
Fetal development
22.3 mcg/m3
No exposures
above
threshold
Carbon
tetrachloride
from a chemical
factory
2.40
2.40
24.20
Liver
Nerves/behavior
Fetal development
28 mcg/m3
Possible liver,
nerves/
behavior, and
fetal develop-
ment effects
Chloroform
in drinking
water
2.40
11.70
Fetal development
Nerves/behavior
47.7 mcg/L in
water, equivalent
to 4.8 mcg/m3
in air
Possible fetal
development
effect
Methylene
chloride
from a chemical
factory
650.00
650.00
Liver
Fetal development
117 mcg/m3
No exposures
above
threshold
Perchloro-
ethylene
from dry
cleaning
69.90
69.90
Kidney
Liver
36.5 mcg/m3
No exposures
above
threshold
Xylene
from car
exhaust
52.80
52.80
Fetal development
Reproduction
30.4 mcg/m3
No exposures
above
threshold
*1 mcg/m3 ¦ 1 microgram per cubic meter - 1 millionth of a gram per cubic meter.
1 gram ¦ 0.035 ounces; 1 cubic meter ¦ 3.5 cubic feet - volume of cooking stove.
Columns 4 and 5 present actual environmental exposures and estimated
noncancer health risks, respectively. Of the substances studied, only
chloroform and carbon tetrachloride have been found in the environment at
levels above their threshold levels for some noncancer effects.
For less-than-lifetime exposures to the noncancer producing substances, EPA
generally assumes that any exposure lasting more than a year should be
compared to the thresholds given in Table 4-2. We do not know enough
about the biology of these compounds to know whether the human body can
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
tolerate higher doses for shorter exposure times. So we do not know whether
the threshold level will increase with shorter exposures.
Health Risks from Accidental Exposures
Recently EPA identified approximately 400 chemicals as being extremely
hazardous substances. The risks from accidental releases of these extremely
hazardous chemicals are usually serious and immediate and may affect many
people in a single neighborhood. For each substance, EPA has determined
an environmental concentration above which you may suffer serious health
effects even if you are exposed for a very short time. These concentrations
are known as the level of concern (LOC). If the concentration of the chemical
in the environment exceeds the LOC after an accidental release, people
exposed would be at risk of death or other severe health consequences
unless they can leave the area immediately.
Table 4-3 presents EPA's estimated LOC for a few extremely hazardous
substances and gives examples of possible community sources. Comparing
the LOC for formaldehyde (15,000 mcg/m3) with typical environmental
exposure levels shown in Table 4-1 (1 mcg/m3) shows that the LOC is 15,000
times higher than this level. However, accidental releases, if large enough,
can result in levels above the LOC. An example of such a release was the
1985 release of methyl-isocyanate in Bhopal, India, that killed 1,500 people.
Table 4-3. EPA's Level of Concern (LOC) for Accidental Releases
of Selected Extremely Hazardous Chemicals
Chemical
Possible uses
LOC (mcg/m3)
Parathion
Pesticides
2,000
Cadmium oxide
Batteries
4,000
Methyl-isocyanate
Pesticides
5,000
Chlorine
Water treatment
9,000
Formaldehyde
Permanent press textiles;
embalming
15,000
Ammonia
Household and commercial cleaning
agents
35,000
Chloroform
Industrial solvents
490,000
Notes: 1,000,000 mcg/m3 - 1,000 milligram per cubic meter - 1 gram per cubic meter.
1 gram - 0.035 ounces; 1 cubic meter - 35 cubic feet - volume of cooking stove.
4-14
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4. ESTIMATING RISKS
Additional Reading
This chapter has provided the information you need to have a basic under-
standing of how the EPA and other organizations estimate people's health
risks from exposure to hazardous substances. If you would like to know more
about this topic, the sources listed below would be a good place to start.
Chemical Exposures: Effects on Health
Write to: Dr. Maria Pavlova
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II
26 Federal Plaza, Room 737
New York, NY 10278
or call: (212) 264-2525
Toxlcoloay; A Primer on Toxicology Principles
and Applications bv M. A. Kamrin
Write to: Lewis Publishers
121 South Main Street
P.O. Drawer 519
Chelsea, Ml 48118
or call: 1-800-525-7894
Toxlcoloay for the Citizen bv A. E. Marczewski. and M. Kamrin
Write to: Center for Environmental Toxicology
Michigan State University
C231 Holden Hall
East Lansing, Ml 48824
Cost: $1.00
or call: (517)353-6469
Technical Guidance for Hazardous Analysis
Write to: Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: 1-800-535-0202
In Washington, DC and Alaska
(202) 479-2449
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5. JUDGING THE SERIOUSNESS OF RISKS
JUDGING THE
SERIOUSNESS OF RISKS
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Many situations can make you aware that hazardous substances exist in your
environment. The actions you take (or don't take) to reduce your exposure to
those substances are influenced, in part, by your perception of the seriousness
of the risk.
• Risk perceptions grow out of people's reaction to a number of characteristics
of the health effects of the exposure as well as attributes of the risk Itself.
• EPA uses research on people's risk perceptions as one input to develop
actions under environmental laws.
• Your personal risk perceptions may differ from researchers' estimates of the
public's aggregate risk perceptions.
Characteristics that influence People's Perception of Risks
Do any of these situations sound familiar?
* You notice that the air in your place of work has an unusual smell.
• You see a notice at work, "Danger—Asbestos Removal in Progress."
• You notice a dreadful smell in the air about 4 miles from your house.
* You read in the paper that a cancer-causing pesticide is commonly used
on red apples.
• You read in the paper that 80 tons of a cancer-causing chemical is
released to the environment from a factory 2 miles from your house.
* You hear on the local news that high levels of radon have been found in
houses in your subdivision.
Ail of the above situations can make you aware of the possibility that hazard-
ous substances exist in your environment. Whenever you experience one of
these situations you have to decide whether to seek more information and/or
whether to try to reduce your exposures to the hazardous substances.
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5. JUDGING THE SERIOUSNESS OF RISKS
Most people will do nothing about the situations listed above. They may never
know that this was the correct decision. Or, they may only find out too late
that they made the wrong decision.
Consider the first example—an unusual smell in the air in your place of work.
Ignoring it could be fatal, if the smell comes from a poisonous gas. Leaving
the building immediately may save your life. On the other hand, the smell may
not come from a hazardous substance at all.
People may react to any of these situations in different ways. In the case of a
strange odor, some people may leave the building, while others may stay.
You often have to make your own decisions on when to act and when not to
act.
EPA and other organizations use the size of people's exposures to hazardous
substances and associated health risks as factors in determining whether
government legislation or action is needed. Another important factor in setting
legislation to reduce people's exposures to hazardous substances is people's
perceptions about the seriousness of the risk. While people judge the
seriousness of a risk of illness partly with respect to the size of their exposure
and the associated health risks, they also consider certain characteristics of
the risk:
• seriousness of illness—is it a temporary illness, or permanent, or death?
• dread factor—is it cancer?
• timing of illness—is there a long time gap between exposure and the
illness?
• scientific knowledge—is the action of the hazardous substance on the
human body well understood?
• social and political dynamics of the community—have community action
groups made people aware of the risk?
• catastrophic potential—could many people be killed at one time?
• recent trend—is it a new and increasing risk?
• equity—who bears the risk?
• control/voluntariness—how easily can people control the risk and do they
have a choice?
• physical distance—do people live or work close to the source of
exposure?
• benefits—do people benefit from the source of exposure?
• mental image—does the source of exposure conjure negative images?
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5. JUDGING THE SERIOUSNESS OF RISKS
• detectability—is the risk easily detectable (example) or is it undetectable
(cancer)?
The first two health characteristics, seriousness of illness and dread, are
connected ideas. Seriousness of an illness can be measured both by the
likelihood that it will result in death, as well as how long the illness lasts and
whether or not there is likely to be a lot of pain and discomfort. However,
independent of the impacts on health, some illnesses are dreaded more than
others. Cancer is one such illness.
Timing may also influence people's perception of seriousness. Risk of death
or illness occurring immediately after exposure to the hazardous substances
will, all else being equal, be less desirable to most people than the same risk
of death or illness delayed until 20 years after exposure. However, when the
risk of illness is delayed, the risk may never be detected.
Ranking Health Risks with Different Health Characteristics
How do most people rank the following health risks in order of their level of
concern?
1. A risk of 1 chance in 1,000of a mild case (upset stomach for 2 days) of
food-borne salmonellosis immediately after eating contaminated food,
with the additional risk of 1 chance in 100,000 of dying from the food
poisoning.
2. A risk of 1 chance in 1,000 of eating fruit contaminated with enough
cyanide to make you seriously ill or to kill you.
3. A risk of 1 chance In 1,000 of contracting cancer in 20 years' time as a
result of eating a food contaminated with a pesticide residue.
Most people rank risk 3 ahead of risk 2 because the dread factor of cancer
is sufficient to outweigh the benefits of a 20-year delay. Sinee salmonel-
losis is, in general, a nonserious illness, risk 1 concerns most people the
least
Since scientific knowledge about the action of hazardous substances is
incomplete, some people may choose to pay less attention to these risks than
better understood risks such as the risk of foodborne illness, while others may
fear them more.
The catastrophic potential of the hazardous substance may increase people's
perception of seriousness. People usually find it is worse to contemplate
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5. JUDGING THE SERIOUSNESS OF RISKS
death if it is likely to be accompanied by the death of many other people,
especially if it is likely that they will include family members. People may be
more willing to tolerate risks they have been living with for a long time and are
stable or even decreasing than those that are new or increasing.
The fairness and distribution of risks have also been shown to affect the
perceived seriousness of the risk. People who are part of the group most at
risk will probably perceive the risk to be more serious than if they are not part
of that group, especially if it seems unfair that their group should be more at
risk than other groups. Also, people's perception of the seriousness of a risk
will probably vary depending on whether they bear the risk voluntarily and how
easily they can reduce the risk if they should want to. Finally, the benefits that
people receive from the same activity that produces the risks may influence
their perception of its seriousness.
Determining Your Personal Perception of Risks
The risk perceptions described above are based on aggregate values
researchers have gathered by surveying a representative portion of the
population. EPA uses these risk perceptions to help set standards for
limiting people's exposure to hazardous substances under the
legislation described in Chapter 2. These government controls, while
highly effective, cannot completely reduce people's exposure to
hazardous substances. Whether you decide that you are willing to
accept the remaining risks or you decide that these risks are serious
enough to take further action to reduce your exposure to hazardous
substances Depends on your own perception of the seriousness of
those risks. You may also decide you need more information. Part III
of this guidebook discusses personal and community actions that you
can take if you want to reduce your risk even further and concludes with
a list of sources for further information on your exposures and health
risks.
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5. JUDGING THE SERIOUSNESS OF RISKS
Comparing Different Types of Risk
How would you compare the seriousness of the following pairs of contrast-
ing types of risk?
• Living near a hazardous waste landfill with very uncertain estimates of
the risks because of lack of scientific knowledge, compared to the better
understood risks of foodborne illness.
• Flying 1,000 miles in a commercial airplane, a possible catastrophic risk,
compared to driving 1,000 miles in a car, a higher but not catastrophic
risk of injury or death.
• Risks from coal-fired power plants, which have been around a long time
and are decreasing, compared to risks from nuclear power plants, which
are newer and increasing and have some catastrophic potential.
« Risks from a nearby municipal incinerator that burns your neighborhood
trash only, compared to the same risks from an incinerator that also
burns trash from many other neighborhoods.
• Risks from skydiving, a voluntary risk, compared to risks from living near
a hazardous waste facility or chemical factory, involuntary risks.
• Risks from arsenic in the air from a copper smelter where you are
employed, compared to the same risks when you work elsewhere.
There are no correct answers to these questions. Your answers indicate
the relative importance of different risk characterises for you. In general,
people are more concerned about new, uncertain, catastrophic, and
involuntary risks.
Additional Reading
This chapter has provided the information you need to have a basic under-
standing of people's judgments about the seriousness of risks. If you would
like to know more about this topic, the sources listed below would be a good
place to start.
5-5
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5. JUDGING THE SERIOUSNESS OF RISKS
Chemical Risk: A Primer
Write to: American Chemical Society
Department of Government Relations and Science Policy
115516th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
or call: (202) 872-4395, (202) 872-4391
Effective Risk Communication by V. T. Covello, D. B. McCallum,
M. T. Pavlova, New York: Plenum
Write to: The Environmental Communication Research Program
Cook College
122 Ryders Lane
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
or call: (201)932-8795
Cost: $1.00
Understanding Soclometrlc Aspects of Risk Perception by E. B. Liebow,
J. A. Fawcett-Long, and E. S. Terrill, November 1987. Prepared for U.S.
Department of Energy
Write to: Library Services
Battelle Seattle Research
P.O. Box C-5395
Seattle, WA 98105-5428
or call: (206)525-3130
Ask for Publication No. BHARC-800/87/023
Cost: $20.00
Risk Communication: A Review of the Literature by V. T. Covello,
P. Slovic, and D. Winterfeldt, November 1987 .
Write to: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Policy Analysis
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
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PART III:
Reducing Your Exposure and Risk
CHAPTER 6:
Reducing Your Exposure to Hazardous Substances:
Personal Action
CHAPTER 7:
Reducing Exposure to Hazardous Substances:
Community Action
CHAPTER 8:
Hazardous Substances:
Getting More Information
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES:
PERSONAL ACTION
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Although the government takes a number of actions to reduce people's
exposure to hazardous substances, you may want to take further action on a
personal level.
• You can reduce your exposure to some hazardous substances by taking
actions in the following four general categories: (1) alleviate indoor exposures
where necessary; (2) select and use products carefully; (3) change personal
habits; and (4) improve your diet.
• This chapter summarizes helpful suggestions to eliminate exposures and
provides references for further information.
Getting Started
We are exposed to hazardous substances because we make decisions about
all kinds of risks in our daily lives based ori best scientific judgments, common
sense, and even habits or superstitions. These decisions range from the food
we choose to eat and drink, whether or not we smoke, where we live and
work, and even the recreational activities in which we participate.
Chapter 2 discussed government legislation aimed at reducing people's
exposure to hazardous substances, and Chapters 3 through 5 showed some
of the methods EPA and other organizations use to set standards under that
legislation. Through these efforts, the government attempts to reduce
people's exposure to hazardous substances to a level that minimizes their risk
of illness as much as possible. Unfortunately, these government actions can-
not eliminate accidental releases of substances by industry, ensure that all
parties obey the laws, or control improper use of hazardous substances. You
may decide that you want to take further action—either immediately or over a
longer time period—to reduce your exposure to hazardous substances (and,
hence, your risk of illness) even more.
This section discusses personal actions you can take to reduce the hazardous
substances in your environment. Personal actions are defined as actions that
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
you can take to reduce your own exposure to hazardous substances. These
actions do not require any actions by other people or the government.
EPA and other agencies have compiled a number of avoidance techniques in
response to people's most common questions about what to do about certain
hazardous substances. This chapter compiles this information for easy
access. After reading this chapter, you may decide you need more informa-
tion, especially for indoor environmental exposures. Some of this information
is available from hotlines or federal or state agencies or private organizations.
Chapter 8 contains information on these organizations along with telephone
numbers and addresses and information on printed materials.
You may want to tailor these suggestions to best fit your needs. Following
some of these suggestions may be less convenient or take more time or effort
than your current habits. Merely finding out about new methods and products
requires time and effort. But changing your habits can reduce your exposure
to hazardous substances. By taking a little more time to think and plan before
you buy, mix, or use products, you can help protect yourself.
You do not have to change all your habits at once. Think of choosing to make
easier changes first and begin learning about others gradually so that you
change the number and types of risks you are exposed to.
Actions
The actions that we suggest you take fall into four general categories:
• Alleviate indoor exposures where necessary.
• Change habits that expose you to hazardous substances unnecessarily.
• Select and use products carefully.
• Improve your diet.
This chapter provides useful suggestions in each of these areas.
Alleviate Indoor Exposures Where Necessary
Some hazardous substances may be present in your home.
Radon: The Public Health Service and EPA recommend that all single-family
detached homes and apartments and condominiums below the second floor
be tested for radon. You can test your home for radon using simple detectors
which are available at hardware stores or through radon testing companies.
The tests cost between $10 and $50 depending on the type. When a radon
problem is found, homeowners can alleviate the problem for expenditures
ranging from $200 to $2,000. Call your state radon office to find out more in-
formation about radon or read EPA's A Citizen's Guide to Radon. Table 8-4 in
Chapter 8 lists the state radon offices in all 50 states.
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
Charcoal
Detector
Recommended
Test Period:
2 to 7 days
Approximate
Cost: $12 to $25.
Alpha thick Detector
Recommended Test Period:
3 to 12 months
Approximate Cost:
$25 to $50.
Radon test devices
Aabeatoa; EPA prohibited the spraying of asbestos-containing materials for
insulation, fireproofing and soundproofing in 1973. Several other asbestos-
containing materials were prohibited in the 1970s by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC). Houses and apartments that were built or remodeled before 1970
may contain asbestos. If you suspect that fireproofing, insulation materials or
other building materials in your environment contain asbestos, do not disturb
them. Generally, a health risk only exists when asbestos fibers are released
from the material. Get professional advice to identify and alleviate potential
asbestos problems. Call the Toxic Substances Control Act Assistance Infor-
mation Service £(202) 554-1404] for information on asbestos and for a list of
laboratories that can test for asbestos problems. CPSC and EPA's Asbestos
in the Home contains more information (see Chapter 8, Table 8-6).
Environmental tobacco amoke: Environmental tobacco smoke may be a
problem in indoor areas where smoking is allowed. Ventilation will reduce but
not eliminate exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Because smoking
produces such large amounts of pollutants, natural or mechanical ventilation
techniques do not remove them from the air in your home as quickly as they
build up. The most effective way to reduce exposure to environmental tobac-
co smoke in the home is to eliminate smoking there. EPA's and CPSC's The
Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air contains further information about environ-
mental tobacco smoke (see Chapter 8, Table 8-6).
Lead In paint: Older homes and apartments may have walls painted with
lead-based paint. If you suspect the interior or exterior of your house has
been painted with lead-based paint, do not disturb it unless it is in bad condi-
tion and children could eat it. Do not sand or burn off paint that may contain
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
lead. If paint is cracked or peeling, cover it with wallpaper or some other
building material or replace the painted surface. EPA's and CPCS's The
Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air contains further information about lead in
paint.
Lead In drinking water: Homes and apartments most likely to have high lead
levels are those that have water service connections or interior plumbing
made of lead, or those that are less than five years old and have copper pipes
soldered with lead. In dwellings with copper piping more than five years old,
mineral deposits have formed a coating on the inside of the pipes if the water
is not too corrosive. This coating insulates the water from the lead solder. If
you suspect that you have high levels of lead in your drinking water, have your
water tested. Many city water departments offer testing, sometimes at no
cost. Call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline or your State Pollution Control
Department for information about where to have your water tested.
If your water contains lead, you can alleviate the problem in several different
ways:
• Run your water from the tap until you feel that the water has become as
cold as it will get before you drink it or cook with it;
• Do not cook or drink water from the hot-water tap;
• Use bottled water; or
• Replace the plumbing.
EPA's Lead and Your Drinking Water contains further information about lead
in drinking water.
Other sources of Indoor exposures: Other sources of indoor exposures to
hazardous substances include pressed wood products containing formalde-
hyde, combustion producers from improperly maintained heat sources, and
consumer products such as cleaners and pesticides. The next section
discusses the selection and proper use of consumer products. EPA's and
CPSC's The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air contains further information
about other indoor air contaminants.
Use Products Containing Hazardous Substances Carefully
Many consumer products contain hazardous substances. To find out if a
product contains hazardous substances, read the label. If you are unaware of
the hazards from a particular chemical on the label, call EPA's Toxic
Substances Control Act (TSCA) information service in Chapter 8, Table 8-1 for
information. The following contains tips about product selection, product use,
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
preparation, storage, and disposal that will help reduce your exposure to
hazardous substances from these products.
Product Selection: In many cases there are nonchemical products that can
be used instead of a product that contains hazardous substances. These
products may be as effective as a hazardous one. Consider substituting
products that do not contain hazardous substances or ones that contain less
hazardous substances for those that do. Also choose products that are
packaged in materials that are environmentally safe.
Examples of Less Hazardous Alternatives to Hazardous
Household Products
The following less hazardous alternatives to hazardous products are
available:
• Use boiling water, a plunger, or a metal snake to clear drains.
• Leave one-fourth cup of ammonia in the oven overnight to prepare oven
for cleaning.
• Use rubbing alcohol or cold water and detergent immediately after
clothing is stained instead of spot remover.
• Sand off old paint or lacquer finish in a well-ventilated area rather than
using paint stripper.
For further information see EPA's A Survey of Household Hazardous
Wastes and Related Collection Programs.
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
Alternatives to Pesticide and Herbicide Use
Use natural pesticides rather than chemical ones for your garden and for
indoor plants. Depending on the site or the pest to be controlled, one or
more of the following steps can be effective:
• Use microorganisms like milky spore disease to control Japanese
beetles in your garden.
• Use companion planting such as planting marigolds (a natural bug
repellent) near vegetable plants.
• Use disease-resistant plants.
Appropriately fertilizing, watering and aerating lawns can reduce the need
for chemical pesticide treatments of lawns. Mechanical treatments such
as cultivating to control weeds, hand-picking weeds from the lawn and
pests from plants, and trapping to control rodents and some insects can
also be useful. Use traps to control rodents and insects and screen off
living areas to limit mosquito and fiy access. Wash indoor plants and pets
frequently.
For further information see EPA's A Consumer's Guide to Safer Pesticide
Use.
Alternatives When Using Commercial Pest Control
If you decide to use a pest control company for pest removal or for ter-
mites, choose one carefully. Ask the company to use the least toxic or
chemical-free pest control means available. Some pest control companies
offer an electro-gun technique to control termite and similar infestations by
penetrating infested areas and using heat treatments to eliminate the prob-
lem pests.
Ask for an inspection of your home and get a written control program for
evaluation before you sign a contract. The control program should list
specific names of pests to be controlled and chemicals to be used. It
should also reflect any of your safety concerns.
For further information see EPA's A Consumer's Guide to Safer Pesticide
Use.
Preparation for Product Use: Before you use products containing
hazardous substances, prepare your work environment to reduce
unnecessary exposures. Here are some tips:
• Choose the least hazardous product that will accomplish the task.
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
• Read the labels of pesticides, paints, solvents, glues, and household
cleaning products. Follow the directions carefully. Even if you have used
the products before, read the label again. Refresh your memory about the
details.
• Use only the amount of pesticides directed, at the time and under the
conditions specified, and for the purpose listed. It usually is not true that
twice the dosage will do twice the job.
• Wear protective equipment to reduce exposure to your skin, eyes, and
lungs from such products. The label will indicate what protective equip-
ment is recommended. Follow these directions. Protective equipment
may include impermeable gloves made from materials such as vinyl, long
sleeves, long pants, footwear, goggles, and/or a respirator.
• Make sure your work space is well ventilated to reduce the concentration
of any dose you may receive. Use products outside or with the windows
open to provide fresh air.
• Close the windows in the house if you are spraying pesticides outdoors.
Carefully mad product labels
Product Usage: Using products properly will reduce unnecessary exposures
to hazardous substances.
• Determine the correct dosage of the product. Mix only the amount of
product you need for the job at hand so as to avoid storing or disposing of
the excess.
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
• Use products in a well-ventilated area or outdoors. If you cannot avoid
using products on a windy day, make sure you are standing upwind of the
product.
• Avoid spraying pesticides near wells or fish ponds. Do not over-apply
pesticides when treating the lawn, shrubs, or the garden. Runoff or
seepage from excess pesticides can contaminate water supplies. Also,
excess spray may leave harmful residue on home-grown produce.
• Stand so that you do not smell gasoline when filling your tank at a self-
service gas station. Use the automatic pump setting so you can walk
away from your car while your tank is being filled.
• Place items stored with mothballs in trunks or other containers that can be
stored in areas that are separately ventilated from the home, such as the
attic or a detached garage.
• Do not accept dry cleaning goods if they have a strong chemical odor
when you pick them up. Wait until they have properly dried, or leave them
outdoors until they are dry.
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
Tips for What to do In an Accident with a Pesticide
or Hazardous Substance
First aid is the first step in treating a pesticide poisoning. Study the
product label before you use a pesticide, especially the statement of
treatment. The best source of information is the label since the appropri-
ate first aid treatment depends upon which pesticide was used. Here are
some tips for first aid before, but not instead of, medical treatment:
• Poison on skin. Drench skin with water and remove contaminated
clothing. Wash skin and hair thoroughly with soap and water. Dry vic-
tim and wrap in blanket. Later, discard contaminated clothing or
thoroughly wash it separately from other laundry.
• Chemical burn on skin. Drench skin with water and remove contami-
nated clothing. Cover burned area immediately with loose, clean, soft
cloth. Do not apply ointments, greases, powders, or other drugs. Later,
discard or thoroughly wash contaminated clothing separately from other
laundry.
• Poison In eye. Eye membranes absorb pesticides faster than any
other external part of the body. Eye damage can occur in a few minutes
with some types of pesticides. Hold eyelid open and wash eye quickly
and gently with clean, running water from the tap or a hose for 15 min-
utes or more. Do not use eye drops or chemicals or drugs in the wash
water.
• Inhaled poison. Carry or drag victim to fresh air immediately. (If proper
protection for yourself is unavailable, call for emergency equipment from
the fire department.) Open doors and windows so no one else will be
poisoned by fumes. Loosen victim's tight clothing. If the victim's skin is
blue or the victim has stopped breathing, give artificial respiration and
call rescue service for help.
• Swallowed poison, A conscious victim should rinse his mouth with
plenty of water and drink up to one quart of milk or water to dilute the
pesticide. Induce vomiting only if instructions to do so are on the label.
If there is no label available to guide you, do not induce vomiting if the
victim has swallowed a corrosive poison or an emulsifiable concentrate
or oil solution, or if the victim is unconscious or is having convulsions.
In dealing with any poisoning, act fast; speed is crucial. After initial first aid
has been performed, get medical help immediately.
Call the National Pesticides Telecommunications Network at 1-800-858-
PEST or your local poison control center for further information.
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
Product Storage and Disposal: Proper storage and disposal of products
that contain hazardous substances are important for reducing your exposures
to those substances.
• Buy only enough product to carry you through the use season. This will
reduce storage problems.
• Store products containing hazardous substances away from children and
pets. Store them in a locked cabinet in a well-ventilated utility area or
garden shed.
• Store products in a safe place according to the label. Avoid storing pesti-
cides in places where flooding is possible, or in open places where they
might spill or leak into the environment. Store flammable liquids outside
living quarters and away from ignition sources.
• Do not flush leftover pesticides or hazardous substances in the toilet or
down the sink as they could interfere with the operation of the septic tank
or pollute waterways. Many municipal systems cannot remove all pesti-
cide or hazardous substance residues.
• Dispose of unfinished containers of powder household cleaners, window
cleaners, dyes, and water-based paints by wrapping them tightly in
newspaper or putting them in a box, taping shut, and placing in garbage
can.
• Dispose of unfinished containers of drain cleaners, oven cleaners, spot
removers, tile cleaners, silver and furniture polishes, lead-based paints,
lacquer, varnish, and stripper by taking them to a household hazardous
waste collection site or call your garbage disposal service for disposal
information.
• Dispose of used oil by placing it in a closed container taking it to a service
station or other facility that offers collection services. Do not mix other
substances such as gasoline, paint stripper, or pesticides into used oil.
Trade in car batteries or take them to a special recycling center.
• Do not reuse empty containers as they may contain residues.
Used-Oil Recycling
Used oil is recycled mostly as a fuel. When virgin oil prices drop, used oil
prices also drop and facilities (such as gas stations) have to pay used oil
collectors to pick up used oil. Consequently, some stations no longer
accept used oil from do-it-yourself oil changers. This means that it may be
difficult to find a facility that will accept used oil. Your state pollution con-
trol office may be able to tell you which facilities currently accept used oil.
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8. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
Change Habits that Expose You to Hazardous Substances
Some exposures to hazardous substance can be reduced or prevented by
changing habits or behaviors. Here are some examples:
• Quit smoking. Avoid prolonged exposure to heavy concentrations of
environmental tobacco smoke.
• Avoid outdoor activities when the air quality is poor. For example, in some
cities air pollution alerts are issued on occasion. Avoid exercising outside
during these periods.
• Avoid eating fish from waterbodies where water contamination is known to
have occurred. Pay attention to posted signs warning of contamination.
Improve Your Diet
Paying attention to your diet is important for two reasons. First, your diet is
one possible way of being exposed to hazardous substances. Nature puts
some hazardous substances in our food. Aflatoxin is an example. In addition,
we constantly consume small amounts of pesticides in our diet. Fruits,
vegetables, and grains as well as meat, poultry, eggs, and milk are all likely to
contain measurable pesticide residues. Second, some studies suggest that
healthier people are less likely to be harmed by hazardous substances.
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
Although EPA regulations limit dietary exposure to pesticide residues in
commercial foods, you can further reduce risks by taking the following steps:
• Rinse fruit and vegetables thoroughly with water; scrub them with a brush
and peel them, if possible. Although this surface cleaning will not remove
"systemic" pesticide residues taken up into the growing plant, it will
remove much of the existing surface residues and dirt.
• Cook or bake foods to reduce the amount of some (but not all) pesticide
residues.
• Trim the fat from meat and poultry. Discard the fats and oils in broths and
pan drippings, since residues are most concentrated in fat.
The Department of Health and Human Services promotes proper diet as one
of the best ways to reduce risks. A high intake of dietary fat is a high risk
factor for cancer. Obesity increases the risks of developing certain cancers.
Foods containing dietary fiber may help protect you from developing some
forms of cancer. Dietary fiber is material from plant cells that humans do not
digest or can only partially digest. It helps move food through the intestines
and out of the body promoting a healthy digestive tract. The Department of
Health and Human Services guidelines suggest varying your diet to include
foods high in fiber and low in fat. Also include fresh fruits and vegetables and
whole grain breads and cereals in your daily diet.
A thorough source of information on diet is Diet and Health: Implications for
Reducing Chronic Disease Risk, published by the National Academy Press.
This publication, and pamphlets available from the Department of Health and
Human Services, are listed in Chapter 8, Table 8-6.
Additional Reading
This chapter has provided the information you need to have a basic under-
standing of actions you can take on your own to reduce your exposure to
hazardous substances. If you would like to know more about this topic, the
sources listed below would be a good place to start.
The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality
Write to: Public Information Center PM211 B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: (202)382-2080
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6. REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: PERSONAL ACTION
A Consumer's Guide to Safer Pesticide Use
Write to: Public Information Center PM211 B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: (202) 382-2080
Diet and Health: Implications for Reducing
Chronic Disease Risk
Write to: National Academy Press
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20418
or call: (202)334-3313
Cost: $49.95
Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer Prevention:
The Good News
Write to: Office of Cancer Communications
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD 20892
or call: 1-800-4-CANCER
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7. REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: COMMUNITY ACTION
REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES:
COMMUNITY ACTION
HIGHLIGHTS:
• You and your neighbors can contribute to community-based decisionmaking
about hazardous substances in your environment.
• Your local emergency planning committee (LEPC) can provide information
about hazardous substances in your community and the emergency actions
that will be taken if an accident occurs. You can get involved in the planning
activities undertaken by the LEPC.
• You can help organize other useful programs to reduce sources of environmen-
tal problems in conjunction with your state or local government.
Why Community Action?
In addition to the personal actions described in Chapter 6, you can get
involved in a number of community actions to reduce hazardous substances in
your community.
Your Local Emergency Planning Committee
The local emergency planning committee (LEPC) is the local group charged
with developing an emergency plan for responding to an accident with hazard-
ous substances. The LEPC is required to collect and store information provid-
ed by facilities on certain hazardous substances, develop an emergency plan
for evacuation or emergency response to an accident based on the informa-
tion, and make the information available to the public.
Getting Information from Your LEPC
The first step in getting information about the hazardous substances in your
community is to contact your LEPC. (The easiest way to find a contact person
for the LEPC is to call your State Emergency Response Commission (SERC)
listed in Chapter 8, Table 8-3.
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7. REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: COMMUNITY ACTION
You can get several different types of information from the LEPC that will be
useful for developing a more accurate understanding of the hazardous
materials that are in your community:
1. A list of the facilities in the planning area that store certain hazardous
substances and the amounts and types of extremely hazardous
chemicals they use or store. Many LEPCs have already made this infor-
mation available to the public by putting a copy in the local library. (You
may want to order the EPA's Title III List of Lists to tell you which sub-
stances are considered hazardous and a copy of one of the booklets that
explains the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The
Act requires different reporting requirements for different substances. See
Chapter 8, Table 8-6 on printed materials and Table 8-7 on computerized
materials.)
2. The Vulnerability Analysis that the LEPC Is required to prepare as
part of the emergency plan. The Vulnerability Analysis plots where
facilities using or storing certain hazardous substances are located on a
county or regional map and plots the major transportation routes for haz-
ardous substances in the area. It also determines the potential impacts of
an accident on different sections of the local population under a worst-
case scenario of an accidental release of a reported hazardous substance.
The LEPC uses this information to develop evacuation plans and pro-
cedures.
Vulnerability Analysis
A vulnerability analysis is a required component of the emergency plan. It
determines the segment or segments of the community that are vulnerable
to injury or damage if the worst-case scenario of an accident were to occur
at a facility using an extremely hazardous substance or on a transportation
route. As part of the analysis, a "vulnerable zone" is estimated for each
extremely hazardous substance present at a facility. Vulnerable zones are
the estimated area that may be exposed to concentrations of an airborne
hazardous substance at unsafe levels following an accidental release.
Vulnerable zones differ for different substances based on
• the size and rate of release;
* physical characteristics of the chemical such as its physical state (solid,
liquid, gas), its ability to react with other chemicals, its corrosivity or
flammability, and its ability to disperse in the environment;
• the airborne concentration at which the chemical causes irreversible
damage to the public health and environment;
• the wind speed and direction at the time of the accident;
• the surrounding topography and landscape features.
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7. REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: COMMUNITY ACTION
In practice, vulnerability analyses may not yet be developed by your LEPC
for the extremely hazardous substances. This is because the LEPC is a
volunteer organization and many LEPCs have only begun the complex
task of collecting and assembling the technical information they receive.
However, the LEPC may be able to show you a map of the facilities in your
area and the types of substances they use or store. This will give you a
general idea of the sources in your area.
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3. A list of facilities that have reported accidental releases to the LEPC
In the past. As part of the law, companies must report releases that
exceed a specified quantity to the government. This information may be
useful to you in determining if facilities in your area have had a history of
accidents and the type and amounts of hazardous substances that have
been released in these accidents.
4. Information on the releases of hazardous substances to the air, to
water, or through land disposal from manufacturing facilities. This
information may or may not be available from the LEPC because com-
panies do not have to submit this information directly to the LEPC. How-
ever, the LEPC may request any information they need to develop their
plan, and some LEPCs have compiled the release information into their
plan. If release information is not available from the LEPC, you can obtain
it from the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Database or from your State-
Designated 313 contact. Chapter 8 tells you how to access the TRI data-
base by computer and how to make written requests.
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7. REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: COMMUNITY ACTION
You should be aware that your list of data from the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know Act will not include releases from Superfund or
other priority abandoned disposal sites, municipal land disposal facilities or
incinerators, nonpoint sources, facilities that do not meet the minimum
reporting requirements, and other facilities that are not covered or have not
yet reported under the Act. For information on potential sources from a
Superfund site, you can find a record of any reports at the documents
repository, which is normally located in the county library nearest the
Superfund site.
Getting Involved in the LEPC
The LEPC includes representations from all sectors of the community,
including elected officials; safety, health, and environmental professionals;
industry; the media; and community groups. You can get involved in the
planning activities undertaken by your LEPC:
• Make sure your LEPC has been formed, attend its meetings, and make
sure it is fully representative of the community. Volunteer to serve as a
citizen representative.
• Make sure the LEPC has obtained all the information it needs from local
facilities to prepare a comprehensive emergency response plan. The
LEPC can request any further information it needs from companies in
addition to the required submissions.
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7. REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: COMMUNITY ACTION
• Review and comment on the emergency response plan, and ask questions
about how the procedures affect you, your family, or your place of
business.
• Ask for information from the LEPC, the State Emergency Response Com-
mission (SERC), or the State-Designated 313 contact, about chemical
hazards, inventories, and releases in your community. Make sure both the
state and LEPC have established procedures to make the information
available. Ask your LEPC what facilities are doing to reduce chemical
hazards.
Benefits of Community Involvement In Emergency Planning
One state program has found that including people who are not typically
part of the emergency planning process has been critical to the program's
success. These people ask the "simple" questions that need to be asked
and they bring new ideas to the process. The SERC has found that there
is a great deal of misunderstanding on the part of local officials and
responders about the type of assistance that would be available from the
state and federal government in an emergency. Some LEPCs expect that
the state or federal government will send a hazardous materials response
team to handle incidents. The process of working with the LEPCs has
been useful in educating them about their responsibilities. The LEPCs
also use the planning process to formresource requests for county
budgets.
Focusing community attention on the releases and inventories of chemicals at
facilities in the community has forced some facilities to rethink their chemical
housekeeping practices. In some cases, companies have decided to change
the amount of inventories they keep as a result of the law.
LEPC Success Stories
One railroad company recently reported to the LEPC that it has re-routed
2,500 of Its annual average of 5,500 freight cars carrying hazardous sub-
stances through a major population center onto rail lines In less populated
areas outside the city.
Facilities have taken an active role in reducing hazards in a rural county.
They have participated in the development of emergency plans and have
reduced and divided the inventories they maintain. For example, some
lacilltlea now break up stored hazardous substances into smaller
containers. This reduces the overall hazard by decreasing the size of the
accident if an accident were to occur.
7-5
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7. REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE^COMMUNITY ACTION
In recent years Denver, Colorado has been plagued by a visible air pollution
problem. Denver's unique geographic location and climate traps warm air
above the city and permits a buildup of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and
particulates. These pollutants impair the blood's ability to carry oxygen and
can lead to cardiovascular, pulmonary, respiratory or nervous system
problems.
The EPA and local governments are working together to clean up Denver's
air. The Metropolitan Air Quality Council has enacted a carbon monoxide
reduction plan with stringent inspection and maintenance requirements for
vehicles. In addition, the plan requires all vehicles to use high oxygen fuels.
Denver and four surrounding communities have adopted wood burning
restrictions to reduce the concentration of particulates in the air. The Council
is also researching ideas such as special pollution control devices for cars
driven at high altitudes to further improve the city's air quality.
Other Community-Wide Actions
There are several other community-wide actions that you and your neighbors
can take to reduce other sources of environmental problems in your
community.
• Find out whether lead in drinking water or radon are problems in your area
by calling your state radon office or your state drinking water office. If you
determine that there are problems with lead in your drinking water or radon
that your community should be addressing, help organize community
awareness programs to educate the public about these environmental
problems and what to do about them. Information programs at malls and
libraries can be successful for reaching other community members.
Radon Awareness Week
Some cities have conducted radon awareness days as part of a communi-
ty outreach to alert citizens to the danger of radon. For example, in one
city, the mayor signed a proclamation of Radon Awareness Week and the
local paper carried articles aboutradon throughout the week. State and
local health officials made presentations for civic organizations, including
the Lions Club and the League of Women Voters. The American Lung
Association also participated in several activities. Contact your state radon
office about how to organize a radon awareness week in your community.
State radon offices are listed in Chapter 8, Table 8-4.
7-6
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7. REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: COMMUNITY ACTION
• In most communities, the improper disposal of household hazardous
wastes is a major environmental problem. Improperly disposed of materi-
als often end up in the local water bodies either because they are dumped
into the ground or they cannot be extracted during waste treatment.
Organize an information program on household hazardous wastes or, if
your community does not already have a household hazardous waste
collection program, participate in developing one.
Household Hazardous Waste Collection Programs
Many cities and counties in the United States
have organized programs for household hazard-
ous waste collection, In some areas, the local
government has developed programs to educate
the public about the problems of improperly dis-
posal of household hazardous wastes and have
offered a collection day or amnesty day on which
residents are encouraged to bring in household
wastes for proper disposal. The wastes are then
disposed of appropriately, usually by paying a
hazardous waste facility to accept them. Some
areas have adapted programs to collect house-
hold hazardous wastes on a regular basis.
EPA's Survey of Household Hazardous Wastes and Related Collection
Programs contains useful information about organizing a successful
collection program. Table 8-6 in Chapter 8 contains information about how
to order this publication.
• Hazardous substances from automobile exhaust by-products enter the
environment with the runoff from parking lots, developments, roadways,
and other impermeable surfaces. Work with your city council or local
governing body to reduce the pollution caused by runoff. Stormwater
management techniques can limit the amount of hazardous substances
that run off impermeable surfaces into surface water bodies during periods
of heavy rainfall.
• Automobile emissions contribute to environmental degradation. In some
areas, automobile emissions are the largest source of pollution. Organize
carpools and/or use public transportation to reduce the amount of auto-
mobile emissions.
• Join an existing community environmental group that has been organized
to educate, lobby, or influence decisionmaking on a specific community
issue.
tflHOtliD HAZARDOUS
7-7
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7. REDUCING EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: COMMUNITY ACTION
Additional Reading
This chapter has provided the information you need to have a basic
understanding of community actions aimed at reducing people's exposure to
hazardous substances. If you would like to know more about this topic, the
sources listed below would be a good place to start.
Chemicals in Your Community: A Guide to the Emergency Planning and
Community Rlght-to-Know Act _
Write to: Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: 1-800-535-0202
In Washington, DC and Alaska
(202) 479-2449
Hazardous Materials Emergency Planning Guide
Write to: Hazmat Planning Guide (NRT-1)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-121
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Reducing the Risk of Chemical Disaster:
A Citizen's Guide
Write to: National Wildlife Federation
Environmental Quality Division
1400 16th St., NW
Washington, DC 20036
or call: (202) 797-6800
Cost: $7
A Survey of Household Hazardous Waste and Related Collection
Programs
Write to: RCRA/Superfund Hotline
OSW/OPMS/Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
or call: (202) 382-3000
1-800-424-9346
In Washington, DC
7-8
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES:
GETTING MORE INFORMATION
This chapter provides tables that list sources of further information on hazard-
ous substances. The first five tables provide telephone numbers and addres-
ses for contact persons in federal and state governments and in other organi-
zations who can help answer questions about hazardous substances. The
last two tables provide information about printed and computer resources that
are publicly available.
Reference Tables: A Guide
You may want to get more information on some of the techniques and actions
described in this guidebook. In this chapter we have compiled information on
additional sources of information, including hotlines, booklets, public informa-
tion sources, and computerized information. These sources are organized
under the following tables:
Table 8-1 Environmental Protection Agency Resources—lists hotlines
and other public information services that are operated or fund id by EPA.
The table also lists the main services each of the resources provides. Many of
the services relate to a particular law so it may be most useful to read the
description of the information they provide to get a sense of whom to call. The
toll-free information services are listed first in alphabetical order according to
their name, followed by other public information resources.
Table 8-2 Other Federal Government Resources—lists hotlines and other
public information services that are operated by federal agencies other than
EPA that have jurisdiction over hazardous substances. The table lists the
main services each of the resources provides. Each resource is listed in
alphabetical order.
Table 8-3 State Emergency Response Commissions and State Desig-
nated Section 313 Contacts Under the Emergency Planning and
Community Rlght-to-Know Act—lists the Commissions and Section 313
contacts for each state in the United States. The State Emergency Response
8-1
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Commission (SERC) can help you find a contact person at the local
emergency planning committee (LEPC) in your area. The Section 313
contacts can help you get information on releases of certain types of
hazardous substances.
Table 8-4 State Radon Contacts—lists the names and addresses of contact
persons in the state radon offices for each state.
Table 8-5 Private and Nonprofit Organizations—lists some national private
and nonprofit organizations that provide useful information or resources con-
cerning hazardous substances. A brief description of the main services of
these organizations is also included. These organizations are listed in alpha-
betical order.
Table 8-6 Printed Information on Hazardous Substances—lists
information available to the public about hazardous substances and what
EPA, other branches of the federal government, and the public can do about
them. These publications are listed according to the type of exposure (for
example, indoor air). The table also provides general sources of health effects
information.
Table 8-7 Computerized Information on Hazardous Substances—pro-
vides health effects information available online through a personal computer
from the National Library of Medicine.
How to Use the Resources
This chapter provides information on the resources available to residents in
any part of the country. These resources include hotlines, government agency
offices, and printed materials.
Generally, local health departments and local grassroot organizations will be
more familiar with the particular characteristics of your local environment.
However, national public information services can supplement your under-
standing with information about federal laws and regulations and by providing
information about health effects at certain exposure levels. They can also
provide very useful information drawn from experiences in other communities
about reducing environmental problems. Finally, they can refer you to specific
program offices within the agency or in the state government for more detailed
information. The federal government has published information for the more
commonly asked environmental questions.
8-2
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
This chapter does not list all the state pollution control agencies, because
many states have more than one agency with jurisdiction over hazardous
substances. To contact the appropriate agency in your state, call the operator
in your capital city and ask for the main number of the state environmental or
pollution control agency. Once you contact that agency, ask them to help you
find the office that can address your question. Many state governments have
published useful materials. For the most part, these are not listed here.
Skim the following (accompanying) tables to find out what different sources
are available. Beside each listing is a brief description of the services provid-
ed by each hotline, information service, or organization. Even after you have
read these lists, you may still have difficulty deciding whom to contact. If you
decide to call someone in a local office, ask that person for names of people to
contact in other offices inside or outside the agency. Also, ask for names in
other levels of government. For example, ask federal officials for contacts at a
regional or state office, or ask a local official whom to call at the state,
regional, or federal level. Check to see if local environmental groups have
developed a list of contact persons that may be useful.
Finally, if you are interested in getting more information on releases of hazard-
ous substances from certain facilities (information required by the Emergency
Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act), you may have noticed that
different aspects of this information are available from a variety of sources—
your library, your local emergency planning commission, the state Section 313
contact, and the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) database. The TRI database
itself can be accessed by computer and modem and at the public reading
room in Washington, DC.
We also suggest contacting your Local Emergency Planning Commission
(LEPC) first or looking in your public library for information produced by your
LEPC. We suggest contacting your LEPC because they may have already or
may be in the process of making this information more meaningful by putting it
into context in your local community. To contact your LEPC, call your State
Emergency Response Commission and ask them for information on the LEPC
in your area. If some of the release data you are interested in obtaining are
not available from the LEPC, contact your state Section 313 contact listed in
Table 8-3 or obtain access to the TRI database listed in Table 8-1.
8-3
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Figure 8-1. Information Under Title III and Where to Get It
Type of Information Where to Go
Emergency Plan
Inventories of extremely
hazardous substances
Routine releases of
toxic chemicals
Information on
accidental releases
Local Emergency Planning
Committee*
Local Emergency
Planning Committee
TRI database—EPA
(see Table 8-1, page 8-5)
Local Emergency
Planning Committee
State-Designated 313
Contact (see Table 8-3,
page 8-11)
State Emergency Response
Commission
(see Table 8-3, page 8-11)
State Emergency Response
Commission
(see Table 8-3, page 8-11)
'Call your State Emergency Response Commission (refer to Table 8-3) to find out a contact
person for your Local Emergency Planning Commission
8-4
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-1. Environmental Protection Agency Resources
RESOURCE
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Hotlines
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information Hotline
1-800-535-0202
In Washington, DC and Alaska
(202) 479-2449
Operates 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM EST
Monday through Friday
Address written questions to:
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
National Pesticides
Telecommunications Network
1-800-858-PEST
Operates 24 hours a day all year
Address written questions to:
National Pesticides Telecommunications
Network
Texas Tech University
Health Sciences Center, Room 1A111
4th Street and Indiana
Lubbock, TX 79430
RCRA/Superfund Hotline
1-800-424-9346
In Washington, DC:
(202) 382-3000
Operates 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM EST
Monday through Friday
Address written questions to:
RCRA/Superfund Hotline
OSW/OPMS/Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
This toll-free hotline provides answers to technical
or regulatory questions about local emergency
response committees, state emergency response
commissions, emergency planning, and technical
questions about reporting requirements under
various sections of Title III. Refers technical
information requests to the appropriate Program
Office in EPA. Can also provide publications about
the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-
Know Act and on community planning. Requests
for publications should be made in writing.
This toll-free hotline provides information about
pesticides to the general public and to the medical,
veterinary, and professional communities. Pro-
vides information on the health effects of pesti-
cides, pesticide use, treatment procedures for acci-
dents with pesticides, and exterminators.
This toll-free hotline provides information on federal
regulations regarding solid and hazardous wastes
and on the Superfund law. Refers technical infor-
mation requests to the appropriate Program Office
in EPA.
8-5
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-1. Environmental Protection Agency Resources (continued)
RESOURCE DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Hotlines (cont'd)
Safe Drinking Water Hotline
1-800-426-4791
In Washington, DC and Alaska
(202) 382-5533
Operates 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM EST
Monday through Friday
Address written questions to:
Safe Drinking Water Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
WH550
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
Assistance Information Service
(202) 554-1404
Operates 8:30 AM to 5 PM EST Monday
through Friday
Address written questions to:
TSCA Assistance Information Service
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
TS-799
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
General Information
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Operates 8 AM to 5:30 PM EST Monday
through Friday
This toll-free hotline provides information on federal
regulations regarding drinking water, including lead
in drinking water, and maintains a list of state
drinking water offices. Also provides information on
water testing laboratories. Refers technical infor-
mation requests to the appropriate Program Office
in EPA.
This information service provides information on
federal regulations of toxic substances and on
EPA's asbestos programs. Provides information
about such substances as ammonia, asbestos,
formaldehyde, and hexanes in household products.
Maintains a list of laboratories that analyze poten-
tial asbestos samples. Refers technical information
requests to the appropriate Program Office in EPA.
This information center distributes general,
nontechnical information about EPA to the public,
as well as to other government agencies at all
levels. Also refers technical information requests to
the appropriate Program Office in EPA or the
appropriate government agency.
8-6
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-1. Environmental Protection Agency Resources (continued)
RESOURCE DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Pesticides
Office of Pesticide Programs
Document Management Section
(H7502C)
ISB/PMSD
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 557-4474
Emissions Data
Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
Database
Title III Reporting Center
Suite 7103
470/4901'Enfant Plaza
Washington, DC 20022
(202) 488-1501
Toxic Release Inventory Database This database contains information on releases of
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certain hazardous substances from factories and
P.O. Box 70266 businesses in your area. Information from the
Washington, DC 20024-0266 database is available by personal computer and a
Attn. TRI Public Inquiry modem through the National Library of Medicine
Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET) System. Call
the National Library of Medicine at 1-800-638-8480
for information on how to obtain a MEDLARS
account for accessing the database. Local infor-
mation on releases eventually will be available on
computer in a county library in each county in the
United States. Release data are also currently
available from State Designated 313 contacts.
Superfund
Superfund Document Repositories EPA has established document repositories for the
studies developed in conjunction with Superfund
site cleanups. Usually these repositories are in the
county library nearest the site.
This office provides a number of free handouts on
pesticide use and safety. Also can provide docu-
ment numbers for Pesticide Fact Sheets available
through the National Technical Information Service
This center is a public reading room where paper
copies of the reporting forms submitted to the Toxic
Release Inventory Database are available.
8-7
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-2. Other Federal Government Resources
RESOURCE
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (F-38)
U.S. Public Health Service
Department of Health and Human
Services
Caffilene Allen, Public Relations
1600 Clifton Rd., NE
Atlanta, GA 30333
(404) 488-4630
This agency provides toxicological profile docu-
ments for some hazardous substances commonly
found at Superfund sites. Answers questions
about human health effects at refuse sites. Works
with private physicians during emergencies to
answer human health related questions.
Cancer Information Service (CIS)
1 -800-4-C ANCER
On Oahu, Hawaii
524-1234
(neighbor islands call collect)
Address written questions to:
Office of Cancer Communications
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD 20892
This toll-free information service provides informa-
tion about cancer causes, prevention, diagnosis,
and treatment. Supplies information about which
substances are known carcinogens. The CIS also
provides booklets containing dietary recommenda-
tions and cancer prevention.
Spanish-speaking staff are available to callers from
the following areas (daytime hours only): Cali-
fornia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Northern New
Jersey, New York, and Texas.
Consumer Products Safety
Commission (CPSC)
1-800-638-2772
Operates a completely automatic hotline
24 hours a day for touchtone phones. If
you have a rotary phone or if you want to
register specific complaints about haz-
ardous products, you may speak to
operators from 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM
EST, Monday through Thursday
This toll-free hotline provides information about the
specific titles of CPSC publications on household
chemicals and on asbestos and allows you to order
them. This hotline is a prerecorded message.
Address written questions to:
Consumer Products Safety Commission
Westwood Towers
5401 Westbard Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20207
8-8
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-2. Other Federal Government Resources (continued)
RESOURCE
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Meat and Poultry Hotline
1-800-535-4555
In Washington, DC
447-333
Operates 10 AM to 4 PM EST Monday
through Friday
Address written questions to:
Meat and Poultry Hotline
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Room 1163-S
Washington, DC 20250
This toll-free hotline provides information on food
safety and storage mostly with respect to meat and
poultry. They can, however, answer general
questions about food safety or can refer questions
to appropriate sources.
National Hazardous Materials
Information Exchange (HMIX)
Federal Emergency Management
Agency
State and Local Programs and Support
Directorate
Technological Hazards Division
800 C Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20472
1-800-752-6367
(In Illinois, call 1-800-367-9592)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and
the Department of Transportation sponsor this
computerized information exchange bulletin board.
It is a centralized database set up for the distribu-
tion and exchange of information pertaining to haz-
ardous materials, emergency management, train-
ing, resources, technical assistance, and regula-
tions. For access, by a personal computer and
modem, call 312-972-3275.
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
1-800-638-8480 or
(301) 496-6193
The library maintains the Toxicology Data Network
(TOXNET) System which is an online database file
available through a personal computer and modem
connection. There are four database files in
TOXNET: (1) The Hazardous Substance Data
Base, (2) the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical
Substances, (3) the Chemical Carcinogenesis
Research Information Service, and (4) the Toxic
Release Inventory. The NLM must issue a
MEDLARS account, for billing purposes, before the
database can be accessed.
8-9
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8^4AZARDOU^SUBSTANCES^GETTIN^MOR^NFORMATION
Table 8-2. Other Federal Government Resources (continued)
RESOURCE
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
National Response Center
1-800-424-8802
This center is a single continuously staffed location
that receives and refers for action or investigation
all reports of environmental incidents throughout
the United States. Use this hotline to report an
incident.
National Technical Information Service
(NTIS)
Attn: Order Desk
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
(703) 487-4650
This information service provides government
documents. Several EPA publications that are not
available through the EPA Public Information
Center can be ordered through NTIS. There is a
charge for these publications. Orders may be
placed by telephone or by mail. Reference the
NTIS PB order number and the document title. In
most cases, you must also specify a method of
payment for the document.
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration
Office of information Consumer Affairs
Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20210
(202) 523-8151
This information office answers questions about
safety and health laws in the workplace. Refers
technical questions to specialists in the appropriate
Program Office of OSHA. Maintains a list of
publications on workplace health and safety.
8-10
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-3. State Emergency Response Commissions and State-Designated Section 313 Contacts
Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
Alabama
Alabama Emergency Response
Commission
Alabama Emergency Management
Agency
520 South Court Street
Montgomery, AL 36130
(205) 834-1375
Section 313 contact:
Alabama Emergency Response
Commission
Alabama Department of Environmental
Management
1751 Congressman W. G. Dickinson
Drive
Montgomery, AL 36109
(205) 271-7700
Alaska
Alaska Emergency Response
Commission
3220 Hospital Drive
Juneau, AK 99801
(907) 465-2630
American Samoa
Territorial Emergency Management
Coordination Office
American Samoan Government
Pago Pago, AS 96799
(684) 633-2331
Arizona
Arizona Emergency Response
Commission
Division of Emergency Services
5636 East McDowell Road
Phoenix, AZ 85008
(602)231-6326
Arkansas
Arkansas Hazardous Materials
Emergency Response Commission
P.O. Box 9583
8001 National Drive
Little Rock, AR 72219
(501)562-7444
California
California Emergency Planning
and Response Commission
Office of Emergency Services
2800 Meadowview Road
Sacramento, CA 95832
(916)427-4287
Section 313 contact:
Office of Environmental Affairs
P.O. Box 2815
Sacramento, CA 95812
(916) 324-8124
Colorado
Colorado Emergency Planning
Commission
Colorado Department of Health
4210 East 11th Avenue
Denver, CO 80220
(303)273-1624
Section 313 contact:
Same address as above
(303)273-1789
(303) 331-4858
Emergency Release Notification:
(303)377-6326
After hours: (303) 370-9395
Connecticut
Connecticut Emergency Response
Commission
Department of Environmental Protection
State Office Building
Room 161
165 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106
(203) 566-4856
Delaware
Delaware Commission on Hazardous
Materials
Department of Public Safety
Administration Center
Dover, DE 19901
(302) 736-3169
Section 313 contact:
Air Resource Section
Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control
RO. Box 1401
Dover, DE 19901
(302) 736-4791
Emergency Release Notification:
(302)834-4531
(302) 736-4784
District of Columbia
District of Columbia Emergency
Response Commission
Office of Emergency Preparedness
200014th Street, NW
Prank Reeves Center for Municipal Affairs
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 727-6161
Florida
Florida Emergency Response
Commission
Florida Department of Community
Affairs
2740 Centerview Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2149
(904)488-1472
In Florida (800) 835-7179
Georgia
Georgia Emergency Response
Commission
Georgia Department of Natural
Resources
205 Butler Street, SE
Floyd Towers East, 11th floor
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 656-4713
Section 313 contact:
Same address aa above
(404) 656-6905
Emergency Release Notification:
(800)241-4113
Guam
Guam State Emergency Response
Commission
Civil Defense
Guam Emergency Services Office
Government of Guam
P.O. Box 2877
Aguana, GU 96910
(671)734-3410
Section 313 contact:
Guam EPA
P.O. Box 2999
Aguana, GU 96910
(671)646-8863
Hawaii
Hawaii State Emergency Response
Commission
Hawaii Department of Health
P.O. Box 3378
Honolulu, HI 96801
(808) 548-2076, (808) 548-5832
Section 313 contact:
Same address as above
(808) 548-6505
Idaho
Idaho Emergency Response
Commission
Department of Health and Welfare
State House
Boise, ID 83720
(208)334-5888
Illinois
Illinois Emergency Response
Commission
Illinois Emergency Services
and Disaster Agency
Attn: Hazmat Section
110 E. Adams Street
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-4694
Section 313 contact:
Emergency Planning Unit
Illinois EPA
RO. Box 19278
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, IL 62794
(217) 782-3637
Indiana
Indiana Emergency Response
Commission
5500 West Bradbury Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46241
(317)243-5176
Iowa
Iowa Emergency Response
Commission
Hoover Building
Level A, Room 29
Des Moines, IA 50319
(515)281-3231
Section 313 contact:
Department of Natural Resources
Records Department
900 East Grand Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50319
(515) 281-6175
8-11
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-3. State Emergency Response Commissions and State-Designated Section 313 Contacts
Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (continued)
Kansas
Kansas Emergency Response
Commission
Building 740, Forbes Field
Topeka, KS 66620
(913) 296-1690
Emergency Release Notification:
(913)296-3176
Kentucky
Kentucky Emergency Response
Commission
Kentucky Disaster and
Emergency Services
Boone National Guard Center
Frankfort, KY 40601-8168
(502) 564-8660, (502) 564-8682
Section 313 contact:
Same address as above
(502) 564-2150
Louisiana
Louisiana Emergency Response
Commission
Office of State Police
RO. Box 66614
7901 Independence Boulevard
Baton Rouge, LA 70896
(504)925-6113
Section 313 contact:
Emergency Response Coordinator
Department of Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 44066
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-4066
(504) 342-8932
Main*
State Emergency Response
Commission
Station 72
Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 289-4080
In Maine (800) 452-8735
Maryland
Governor's Emergency Management
Agency
Maryland Emergency
Management Agency
2 Sudbrook Lane East
Pikesville, MD 21208
(301)486-4422
Section 313 contact:
State Emergency Response Commission
Maryland Department of the
Environment
Toxics Information Center
2500 Broening Highway
Baltimore, MD 21224
(301) 631-3800
Massachusetts
Title Three Emergency
Response Commission
Department of Environmental
Quality Engineering
One Winter Street, 10th floor
Boston, MA 02108
(617)556-1096
For LEPC Information: (508) 820-2060
Michigan
Michigan Department of Natural
Resources
Environmental Response Division
Title III Notification
P.O. Box 30028
Lansing, Ml 48909
(517)373-8481
Minnesota
Minnesota Emergency Response
Commission
Department of Public Safety
State Capitol, Room B-5
St. Paul, MN 55155
(612) 2960488
Mississippi
Mississippi Emergency Response
Commission
Mississippi Emergency Management
Agency
P.O. Box 4501
Fondren Station
Jackson, MS 39296-4501
(601) 960-9973
Missouri
Missouri Emergency Response
Commission
Missouri Department of
Natural Resources
2010 Missouri Blvd.
Jefferson City, MO 65109
(314) 751-7929
Montana
Montana Emergency Response
Commission
Environmental Sciences Division
Department of Health
and Environmental Sciences
Cogswell Building A-107
Helena, MT 59620
(406) 444-3948
Nebraska
Nebraska Emergency Response
Commission
Nebraska Department of
Environmental Control
P.O. Box 98922
State House Station
Lincoln, NE 68509-8922
(402)471-4217
Nevada
Nevada Division of Emergency
Management
2525 South Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89710
(702) 885-4240
Emergency Release Notification:
(702)885-5300
New Hampshire
State Emergency Management
Agency
Title III Program
State Office Park South
107 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 271-2231
New Jersey
New Jersey Emergency
Response Commission
SARA Title III Project
Department of Environmental
Protection
Division of Environmental Quality
CN-405
Trenton, NJ 08625
(609) 292-6714
New Mexico
New Mexico Emergency Response
Commission
New Mexico Department
of Public Safety
PO. Box 1628
Santa Fe, NM 87504-1628
(505)827-9222
New Vbrfc
State Emergency Management Office
Building 22
State Campus
Albany, NY 12226
(518)457-9994
Section 313 contact:
New York Emergency Response
Commission
New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation
Bureau of Spill Response
50 Wolf Road, Room 326
Albany, NY 12233-3510
(518)457-4107
North Carolina
North Carolina Emergency
Response Commission
North Carolina Division of Emergency
Management
116 West Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27603-1335
(919) 733*3867
In North Carolina (800) 451-1403 for
general information only
North Dakota
North Dakota Emergency
Response Commission
Division of Emergency Management
P.O. Box 5511
Bismarck, NO 58502-5511
(701)224-2111
Section 313 contact:
SARA Title III Coordinator
North Dakota State Department of
Health and Consolidated Laboratories
1200 Missouri Avenue
P.O. Box 5520
Bismarck, NO 58502-5520
(701) 224-2374
Ohio
Ohio Emergency Response
Commission
Ohio Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Emergency Response
P.O. Box 1049
Columbus, OH 43266-0149
(614) 644-2260
8-12
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-3. State Emergency Response Commissions and State-Designated Section 313 Contacts
Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (continued)
Section 313 contact:
Division of Air Pollution Control
1800 Watermark Drive
Columbus, Ohio 43215
(614)644-2270
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Emergency Response
Commission
Office of Civil Defense
P.O. Box 53365
Oklahoma City, OK 73152
(405)521-2461
Oregon
Oregon Emergency Response
Commission
c/o State Fire Marshall
3000 Market Street Plaza
Suite 534
Salem, OR 97310
(503) 378-2885
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Emergency Response
Commission
SARA Title III Officer
PEMA Response and Recovery
P.O. Box 3321
Harrisburg, PA 17105
(717) 783-8150, (717) 783-8193
Section 313 contact:
Bureau of Right-to-Know
Room 1503
Labor and Industry Building
7th and Forrester Streets
Harrisburg, PA 17120
(717)783-8150
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico Emergency
Response Commission
Environmental Quality Board
P.O. Box 11488
Sernades Juncos Station
Santurce, PR 00910
(809) 722-1175, (809) 722-2173
Section 313 contact:
Same address as above
(809) 722-0077
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Emergency
Response Commission
Rhode Island Emergency
Management Agency
State House Room 27
Providence, Rl 02903
(401)277-3039
Section 313 contact:
Department of Environmental
Management
Division of Air and Hazardous Materials
291 Promenade Street
Providence, Rl 02908
Attn: Toxic Release Inventory
(401)277-2808
Emergency Release Notification:
(401)274-7745
South Carolina
South Carolina Emergency
Response Commission
Division of Public Safety Programs
Office of the Governor
1205 Pendleton Street
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 734-0425
Section 313 contact:
Department of Health and
Environmental Control
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 734-5200
South Dakota
South Dakota Emergency
Response Commission
Department of Water
and Natural Resources
Joe Foss Building
523 East Capitol
Pierre, SD 57501-3181
(605) 773-3151
Section 313 contact:
Same address as above
(605) 773-3153
Tmnesseo
Tennessee Emergency Response
Commission
Tennessee Emergency
Management Agency
3041 Sid co Drive
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 252-3300
In Tennessee (800) 262-3300
Out of State (800) 258-3300
Dhow
Texaa Emergency Response
Commission
Division of Emergency
Management
P.O. Box 4087
Austin, TX 78773-0001
(512)465-2138
Section 313 contact:
Emergency Response Unit
Texas Water Commission
P.O. Box 13087-Capitoi Station
Austin, TX 78711-3087
(512) 463-8527
Emergency Release Notification:
(512)458-7410
Utah
Utah Comprehensive Emergency
Management
P.O. Box 58136
1543 Sunnyside Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT 84158-0136
(801)533-5271
Section 313 contact:
Utah Hazardous Chemical Emergency
Response Commission
Utah Division of Environmental Health
288 North 1460 West
PO. Box 16690
Salt Lake City, UT 84116-0690
(801)538-8121
Vermont
Vermont Emergency Response
Commission
Deparment of Labor and Industry
120 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
(802) 828-2286
Section 313 contact:
Department of Health
60 Main Street
P.O. Box 70
Burlington, VT 05402
(802)863-7281
Virgin Islands
Department of Planning and Natural
Resources
US Virgin Islands Emergency
Response Commission
Title III
Suite 231
Nisky Center
Charlotte, Amalie
St. Thomas. VI 00802
(809) 774-3320, ext. 169,170
Virginia
Virginia Emergency Response
Council
Department of Waste
Management
James Monroe Building
18th Floor
101 North 14th Street
Richmond. VA 23219
(804)225-2513
Washington
Washington Emergency Response
Commission
Department of Community
Development
Mail Stop GH-51
9th and Columbia Building
Olympia, WA 98504 .
(206) 753-5625, (206) 459-9191
In Washington (800) 633-7585
Section 313 contact:
Department of Ecology
Mail Stop PV-11
Olympia, WA 98504
(206)459-6312
West Virginia
West Virginia Emergency
Response Commission
West Virginia Office of Emergency
Services
State Office Building, EB-80
Charleston, WV 25305
(304)348-5380
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Emergency Response
Commission
Division of Emergency Government
4802 Sheboygan Avenue
PO. Box 7865
Madison, Wl 53707
(608)266-3232
8-13
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-3. State Emergency Response Commissions and State-Designated Section 313 Contacts
Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (continued)
Section 313 contact:
Department of Natural Resources
P.O. Box 7921
Madison, Wl 53707
(608) 266-9255
Wyoming
Wyoming Emergency Response
Commission
Wyoming Emergency
Management Agency
RO. Box 1709
Cheyenne, WY 82009
(307) 777-7566
Information about your Local Emergency Planning Committee can be obtained by contacting the State Emergency Response
Commission, which is the first contact listed for each state. Information on releases of certain hazardous substances from facilities in
your area can be obtained from the State-Designated Section 313 contact listed or from the State Emergency Response contact if a
separate Section 313 contact is not listed. This table also provides emergency release notification telephone numbers in those states
where it is not already listed under the State Emergency Response Commission.
List is current as of May 1989.
8-14
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-4. State Radon Contacts
Alabama
James McNees
Radiological Health Branch
Alabama Department of Public Health
State Office Building
Montgomery, AL 36130
(205) 261-5315
Alaska
Sidney Heidersdorf
Radiological Health Program
Alaska Department of Health
and Social Services
Box H-06F
Juneau. AK 99811-0613
(907) 485-3019
Arizona
Paul Weeden/John Oneil
Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency
4814 South 40th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85040
(602) 255-4845
Arkansas
Greta Dicus/Bernard Bevill
Division of Radiation Control
and Emergency Management
Arkansas Department of Health
4815 W. Markham Street
Little Rock, AR 72205-3867
(501) 661-2301
California
Steve Hayward
California Department
of Health Services, Room 334
2151 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
(415)540-2469
Joseph Karbus
Radiation Management
County of Los Angeles
Department of Health Services
2615 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(213) 744-3244
Colorado
Richard Gamewell
Radiation Control Division
Colorado Department of Health
4210 East 11th Avenue
Denver, CO 80220
(303) 331-4812
Connecticut
Alan J. Siniscalchl
Radon Program
Toxic Hazards Section
Connecticut Department
of Health Services
150 Washington Street
Hartford, CT 06106
(203)566-3122
Delaware
John Hedden
Division of Public Health
Delaware Bureau of
Environmental Health
P.O. Box 637
Dover, DE 19901
(302) 736-4731
District of Columbia
Veronica Singh
DC Department of Consumer
and Regulatory Affairs
614 H Street, NW, Room 1014
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 727-7728
Florida
Walter Klein
Department of Health
and Rehabilitative Services
1317 Winewood Boulevard
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0700
(904)487-1004
Harlan Keaton
Environmental Radiation Control
Laboratory
Department of Health
and Rehabilitative Services
P.O. Box 680069
Pine Hill Service Center, Bldg. 18
7500 Silver Star Road
Orlando, FL 32818
(407)297-2095
Georgia
James Drinnon
Environmental Protection Division
Georgia Department of
Human Resources
878 Peachtree Street, Room 100
Atlanta, GA 30306
(404) 894-6644
Hawaii
Thomas Anamizu
Environmental Protection and
Health Services Division
Hawaii Department of Health
591 Ala Moana Boulevard
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808)548-4383
Joanne Mitten
Bureau of Preventative Medicine
Division of Health
Idaho Department of Health
and Welfare
450 West State Street
Boise. ID 83720
(208)334-5927
Illinois
Meianie Hamel
Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety
Office of Environmental Safety
1301 Knotts Street
Springfield, IL 62703
(217) 786-6384
(217) 786-6399 for Citizen's Guide
Indiana
David Nauth
Division of Industrial Hygiene
and Radiological Health
Indiana State Board of Health
1330 W. Michigan Street
P.O. Box 1964
Indianapolis, IN 46206-1964
(800) 272-9723 (in State)
(317) 633-0153
Iowa
Richard Weike
Bureau of Radiological Health
Iowa Department of Public Health
Lucas State Office Building
Des Moines, IA 50319-0075
(515)281-7781
Kansas
Radiation Control Program
Bureau of Air Quality
and Radiation Control
Kansas Department of Health
and Environment
Forbes Field, Building 740
Topeka, KS 66620-0110
(913)296-1560
Kentucky
Donald Nodler
Radiation Control Branch
Division of Radiation and
Product Safety
Department of Health Services
Cabinet for Human Resources
275 East Main Street
Frankfort, KY 40621
(502)564-3700
Louisiana
Jay Mason
Louisiana Nuclear Energy Division
P.O. Box 14690
Baton Rouge, LA 70898-4690
(504) 925-4518
Maine
Eugene Moreau
indoor Air Program
Division of Health Engineering
Maine Department of Human
Services
State House Station 10
Augusta, ME 04333
(207)289-3826
8-15
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-4. State Radon Contacts (continued)
Maryland
Leon Rachuba
Canter for Radiological Health
Maryland Department of Environment
2500 Broening Highway
Baltimore, MD 21224
(800) 872-3666 (in State)
(301)631-3300
Massachusetts
Bill Bell
Radiation Control Program
Massachusetts Department
of Public Health
23 Service Center
North Hampton, MA 01060
(413) 586-7525
or in Boston
Robert Hallisey
(617) 727-6214
Michigan
Robert DeHaan
Division of Radiological Health
Michigan Department of Public Health
3423 North Logan, RO. Box 30195
Lansing, Ml 48909
(517) 335-8190
Minnesota
Earnest Tate
Section of Radiation Control
Environmental Health Division
Minnesota Department of Health
717 Delaware St. SE, P.O. Box 9441
Minneapolis, MN 55440
(612)623-5348
Mississippi
Robert Sell
Division of Radiological Health
Mississippi Department of Health
3150 Lawson Street, P.O. Box 1700
Jackson. MS 39215-1700
(601)354-6657
Missouri
Kenneth V. Miller
Bureau of Radiological Health
Missouri Department of Health
1730 E. Elm
P.O. Box 570
Jefferson City, MO 65102
(800) 669-7236 (in State)
(314) 751-6083
Montana
Adrian Howe
Occupational Health Bureau
Montana Department of Health
and Environmental Sciences
Cogswell Building A113
Helena, MT 59620
(406)444-3671
Nebraska
Harold R. Borchert/Ellis H. Simmons
Division of Radiological Health
Nebraska Department of Health
301 Centennial Mall South
P.O. Box 95007
Lincoln, NE 68509
(402) 471-2168
Nevada
Stan Marshall
Radiological Health Section
Health Division
Nevada Department
of Human Resources
505 E. King Street
Carson City, NV 89710
(702)885-5394
New Hampshire
Joy Hanington
Bureau of Radiological Health
Division of Public Health Services
Health and Walters Building
6 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH 03301-6527
(603) 271-4674
New Jersey
Robert Stern
Radiation Protection Element
New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection
729 Alexander Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
(800) 648-0394 (in State)
(609)987-6402
New Mexico
Benito Garcia
Radiation Licensing and
Registration Section
New Mexico Environmental
Improvement Division
1190 St. Francis Drive
Santa Fe, NM 87504-0968
(505)827-2773
Newtork
Laurence Keefe
Bureau of Environmental Radiation
Protection
New York State Health Department
2 University Plaza
Albany, NY 12237
(800) 458-1158 (in State)
(800) 342-3722 (NYSEO)
Training Information
(518) 458-6450
North Carotins
Dr. Felix Fbng
Radiation Protection Section
Oivtsion of Facility Services
North Carolina Department
of Human Resources
701 Barbour Drive
Raleigh, NC 27803-2008
(919) 733-4283
North Dakota
Jim Killingbeck
North Dakota Department
of Health
Missouri Office Building
1200 Missouri Avenue, Room 304
P.O. Box 5520
Bismark, ND 58502-5520
(701)224-2348
Ohio
David Farnsworth
Radiological Health Program
Ohio Department of Health
1224 Kinnear Road, Suite 120
Columbus, OH 43212
(800) 523-4439 (in State)
(614)644-2727
Oklahoma
Paul Brown
Radiation and Special Hazards
Service
Oklahoma State Department
of Health
P.O. Box 53551
Oklahoma City, OK 73152
(405) 271-5221
Oregon
Ray Paris
Oregon State Health Department
1400 SW 5th Avenue
Portland, OR 9(7201
(503)229-5797
Pennsylvania
Cart Granlund
Pennsylvania Department
of Environment Resources
Bureau of Raaiation Protection
P.O. Box 2063
Harrisburg, PA 17120
(800)-23-RADON (in State)
(717) 787-2480
Puerto Rico
Jose' Perey-Bobonis
Puerto Rico Radiological
Health Division
G.P.O. Call Box 70184
Rio Piedras, PR 00936
(809) 767-3563
Rhode Island
James Hickey/Roger Marinelli
Division of Occupational Health
and Radiation
Rhode Island Department of Health
206 Cannon Bldg., 75 Davis Street
Providence, Rl 02908
(401)277-2438
8-16
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-4. State Radon Contacts (continued)
South Carolina
Nolan Bivens
Bureau of Radiological Health
South Carolina Department of
Health and Environmental Control
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 734-4700/4631
South Dakota
Mike Pochop
Division of Air Quality
and Solid Waste
South Dakota Department of
Water and Natural Resources
Joe Fosa Building, Room 217
523 E. Capitol
Pierre, SD 57501-3181
(605) 773-3153
IhnnMSM
Jackie Waynick
Division of Air Pollution Control
Bureau of Environmental Health
Department of Health
and Environment
Custom House
701 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37219-5403
(615) 741-4634
lbxas
Gary Smith
Bureau of Radiation Control
Texas Department of Health
1100 West 49th Street
Austin. TX 78756-3189
(512) 835-7000
Utah
Larry Anderson
Bureau of Radiation Control
Utah State Department of Health
288 North, 1460 West
PO. Box 16690
Salt Lake City, UT 84116-0690
(801)538-6734
Vermont
Paul Clemons
Division of Occupational
and Radiological Health
Vermont Department of Health
10 Baldwin Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
(802) 828-2886
Virginia
Jim DeKrafft
Bureau of Radiological Health
Department of Health
109 Governor Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(800) 468-0138 (in State)
(804) 786-5932
Virgin islands
Francine Lang
Division of Environmental Protection
Department of Planning
and Natural Resources
179 Altona and Weigunst
Charlotte, Amalie, VI 00801
Washington
Robert Mooney
Environmental Protection Section
Washington Office of Radiation
Protection
Thurston AirDustrial Center
Building 5, Mail Stop LE-13
Olympia, WA 98504
(800) 323-9727 (in State)
(206) 586-3303
Wftst Virginia
Beatty DeBord
Industrial Hygiene Division
West Virginia Department of Health
151 11th Avenue
South Charleston, WV 25303
(304)348-3526/3427
Wisconsin
John Micka
Radiation Protection Section
Division of Health
Wisconsin Department of Health
and Social Services
5708 Odana Road
Madison, Wl 53719
(608) 273-5180
Wyoming
Julius Haes
Radiological Health Services
Wyoming Department of Health
and Social Services
Hathway Building, 4th Floor
Cheyenne, WY 82002-0710
(307) 777-6015
8-17
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8^iAZARDOU^SUBSTANCES^GETTIN^MOR^NFORMATlON
Table 8-5. Private and Nonprofit Organizations4
ORGANIZATION
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
American Chemical Society
Department of Government Relations
and Science Policy
1155 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 872-4395, (202) 872-4391
A member organization of chemists and chemical
engineers. Can help citizens interpret technical
data or can refer citizens to a scientist in their local
community who can.
American Petroleum Institute
1220 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 682-8000
The Health and Environmental Sciences Depart-
ment of the American Petroleum Institute sponsors
research and information programs in the fields of
occupational health, product safety, environmental
biology, environmental technology and community
health. Reports and publications are available to
non-members for a $0.25 per page fee.
Center for Emergency Response
Planning (CERP)
Workplace Health Fund
815 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 842-7834
A consortium of industrial union departments, AFL-
CID, and the Workplace Health Fund. CERP is
involved in planning, information dissemination,
and research. CERP provides educational
resources for workers, labor officials, and com-
munity leaders; planning assistance to worker
representatives on LEPCs, and general chemical
information through unions.
Chemical Manufacturers Association
2501 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 887-1255
A trade association for chemical companies. Oper-
ates a Chemical Referral Center to provide none-
mergency health and safety information on chemi-
cals. Call the Referral Center at 1-800-CMA-8200
in U.S. or 202-887-1315 (call collect in Alaska).
Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous
Wastes
Box 926
Arlington, VA 22216
(703) 276-7070
An organization that provides information about
hazardous wastes to citizens concerned about
environmental health issues.
8-18
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-5. Private and Nonprofit Organizations4 (continued)
ORGANIZATION
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Clean Water Action
186 South Street, 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 423-4661
A grass roots organization that was organized to
help citizens get information about toxics in their
area. Provides technical assistance. Maintains a
list of publications.
Electric Power Research Institute
3412 Hillview Avenue
P.O. Box 10412
Palo Alto, CA 94303
(415) 855-2411
A trade association for the electric utility industry.
Conducts research on environmental assessment
issues affecting the electric power industry. Tech-
nical reports are available at a fee for nonmembers.
Friends of the Earth
218 D Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 544-2600
A member organization that has recently merged
with the Environmental Policy Institute and the
Oceanic Society. The organization's main function
is lobbying the federal government for grass roots
citizens groups. Can also provide guidance for
lobbying in state and local government and strate-
gies for citizen education and assistance in com-
munity organizing.
Greenpeace
1436 U Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 462-1177
An international organization dedicated to the pro-
tection of the natural environment through direct
action, education, and legislature lobbying. Main-
tains a number of position papers on environmental
problems.
National Toxics Campaign
37 Temple Place, 4th Floor
Boston, MA 02111
(617)482-1477
A coalition of citizens, consumer organizations,
environmental group, and others who are dedi-
cated to implementing citizen-based preventive
solutions to toxic and environmenal problems.
National Wildlife Federation
Environmental Quality Division
1400 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 797-6800
A nonprofit organization that develops education
programs, publications, and research activities to
promote the wide use of national resources.
8-19
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-5. Private and Nonprofit Organizations* (continued)
ORGANIZATION
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Sierra Club
730 Polk Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415)776-2211
A club organized to help members and the public
understand environmental problems and their risks
and solutions. Publishes the Sierra Club Hazard-
ous Materials/Water Resources Newsletter for vol-
unteer activists to communicate with each other
about resources, research, and activities.
Working Group on Community Right-
to-Know
218 D Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 544-2600
A coalition of public interest and environmental
groups that provides information on the Emergency
Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The
coalition compiles documents on Title III for which
they request donations to cover the cost of copying
and mailing.
•There may be other private and nonprofit organizations that may provide assistance.
8-20
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-6. Printed Information on Hazardous Substances
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
Outdoor Air
Trends in the Quality of the Nation's Air, EPA, 1988,
OPA-87-019,19 pages
Contains a general summary of outdoor air quality
with data on six primary air pollutants.
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Outdoor Water
America's Wetland9—Our Vital Link Between Land
and Water, EPA, 1988, OPA-87-016,10 pages
Provides a basic geographical description of wet-
lands, their importance, and statistics on how they
are now being threatened.
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Drinking Water
Lead and Your Drinking Water, EPA, 1987, OPA-87-
006, 7 pages
Gives a comprehensive overview of how lead gets
into drinking water, information on testing, and ways
to reduce your risk.
Health Advisory Summaries, EPA, Office of Water,
1989, about 2 pages for each summary
Provides information on health effects of pesticides
and suggests actions to take to ensure a safe drink-
ing water supply. Hoalth advisory information has
been prepared for substances that have the poten-
tial for reaching drinking water supplies.
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Safe Drinking Water Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
WH 550
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
1-800-426-4791
In Washington, DC and Alaska
(202) 382-5533
Land Disposal
The New Superfund: What It is, How It Works, EPA,
1987,10 pages
Gives a detailed description of the Superfund law, its
provisions for cleaning up hazardous waste sites,
and how individual communities are involved in the
process.
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
8-21
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-6. Printed Information on Hazardous Substances (continued)
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
Land Disposal (cont'd)
The Solid Waste Dilemma: An Agenda for Action,
EPA, 1989, EPA/530-SW-89-019, 70 pages
Offers concrete strategy for action by EPA, state and
local government, industry, and citizens for improv-
ing the nation's management of municipal solid
waste.
Waste Minimization: Environmental Quality with
Economic Benefits, EPA, 1987, EPA/530-SW-87-
026,26 pages
Focuses on EPA's waste minimization program
under the 1984 RCRA amendments. Also describes
general waste minimization practices and lists
federal and state offices that can assist generating,
initiating, or expanding their programs.
RCRA/Superfund Hotline
OSW/OPMS/Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
1-800-424-9346
In Washington, DC:
(202) 382-3000
RCRA/Superfund Hotline
OSW/OPMS/Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
1-800-424-9346
In Washington, DC:
(202) 382-3000
Air, Water, and Land Disposal
Environmental Progress and Challenges: EPA's
Update, EPA, 1988, EPA-230-07-88-033, 140 pages
Provides an overview of environmental problems in
the United States and the steps being taken by EPA
and States and local governments to address these
issues.
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Air, Water, and Land Disposal—Title III
Chemicals in Your Community: A Guide to the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know
Act, EPA, OSWER-88-002, 1988, 36 pages
Describes the EPCRA act passed by Congress, how
it affects various groups, and what rights each group
has in terms of having information about hazardous
substances in its area.
Community Right-to-Know and Small Business,
EPA, 1988, OSWER-88-005, 23 pages
Provides information for small businesses to help
them comply with the Community Right-to-Know law.
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
8-22
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-6. Printed Information on Hazardous Substances (continued)
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
Air. Water, Land Disposal—Title III (cont'd)
It's Not Over in October: A Guide for Local
Emergency Planning Committees, EPA/FEMA/CMA
and Working Group on Community Right-to-Know,
1988, OSWER-88-004,27 pages
Provides information for the Local Emergency
Planning Committees on implementing Title III and
on creative solutions to problems that may arise.
Hazardous Materials Emergency Planning Guide,
U.S. EPA, 1987 (NRT-1)
Provides information to assist communities in
planning for hazardous materials incidents. This
guide outlines how to develop planning teams and
hazardous materials emergency plans.
Technical Guidance for Hazards Analysis:
Emergency Planning for Extremely Hazardous
Substances, EPA, 1987, 186 pages
This guidebook supplements the Hazardous
Materials Emergency Planning Guide by providing
technical assistance to LEPC to assess the lethal
hazards related to potential airborne releases of
extremely hazardous substances.
The Community Plume, a publication for the
members of America's Local Emergency Planning
Committees, Environmental Policy Institute ($10
donation)
Provides news and information to Local Emergency
Planning Committees and other emergency man-
agement personnel about incidents involving toxic
substances and other aspects of complying with
Title III.
Chemical Risk Communication—Preparing for
Community Interest in Chemical Release Data,
American Chemical Society, 1988, 28 pages
Presents a basic explanation of risk assessment and
risk communication that can be used when respond-
ing to public questions about chemical releases.
This booklet is written for public information person-
nel in the chemical industry and local leaders.
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Hazmat Planning Guide (NRT-1)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Friends of the Earth
218 D Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 544-2600
American Chemical Society
Department of Government Relations
and Science Policy
1155 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 872-4395, (202) 872-4391
8-23
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-6. Printed Information on Hazardous Substances (continued)
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
Air. Water, Land Disposal—Title III (cont'd)
Layperson's Guide to Reading MSDSs,
Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Quality, 4 pages
Explains how to interpret Material Safety Data
Sheets (MSDSs). MSDSs are the fact sheets on
health effects and treatment information on specific
chemicals that are prepared by manufacturers and
must accompany certain chemicals under Title III
requirements.
Reducing the Risk of Chemical Disaster: A Citizen's
Guide, National Wildlife Federation, 1989, 85 pages
($7 donation)
Explains different elements of gathering information
and using it for emergency planning and discusses
barriers to effective planning.
Using Community Right-to-Know: A Guide to a New
Federal Law, 1988, OMB Watch, 72 pages ($25 for
businesses and national organizations, $5 for
communities and individuals)
Presents information for citizens on understanding
the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-
Know Law and on the different types of information
available.
Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Quality
1 Winter Street
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 292-5993
National Wildlife Federation
Environmental Quality Division
1400 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 797-6800
OMB Watch
1731 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 234-8494
Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes
Newsletter
Contains a list of presentations and publications
maintained by the Citizens Clearinghouse.
Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet
Provides summaries of available information on the
health effects of certain chemicals based on poten-
tial exposures and provides information on ways to
reduce exposure.
Title III List of Lists, EPA, 1988, EPA-560/4-88-003
Lists the chemicals subject to reporting under Title III
of SARA. The document lists the extremely hazard-
ous substances with their threshold planning quanti-
ties, the CERCLA hazardous substances with their
reportable quantities, the Section 313 toxic chemi-
cals, and the RCRA hazardous wastes.
Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous
Wastes
Box 926
Arlington, VA 22216
(703) 276-7070
TSCA Assistance Information Service
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
TS-799
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 554-1404
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
8-24
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-6. Printed Information on Hazardous Substances (continued)
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
Air. Water. Land Disposal—Title III (cont'd)
Publicly Available We III Documents (A Bibliogra-
phy), EPA, 1989
Contains title, availability, and a summary of docu-
ments concerning Title III
Household Hazardous Waste
Indoor Air
The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality,
EPA and Consumer Product Safety Commission,
1988, EPA/400/1-88/004, 32 pages
Provides information on sources of indoor air
pollutants, as well as ways to mitigate or eliminate
the problems; discusses indoor air quality in the
workplace; contains good list of where to obtain
additional information.
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
TSCA Assistance Information Service
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
TS-799
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 554-1404
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
RCRA/Superfund Hotline
OSW/OPMS/Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
1-800-424-9346
In Washington, DC:
(202) 382-3000
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Chemical Advisories, EPA, 1984-1986
These fact sheets provide information to manufac-
turers, employees, and homeowners of the hazard-
ous from used motor oil and other hazardous sub-
stances including 2-nitropropane, nitrosamines,
p-tert-butyl benzoic acid, 4,4'-methylene bis(2-chlo-
roaniline), and toluenediamines.
A Survey of Household Hazardous Wastes and
Related Collection Programs, EPA, 1986, EPA-530-
SW-86-038, PB 87-108072,128 pages
Summarizes the results of a study that addressed
the quantities of household hazardous wastes in the
municipal waste stream and the impacts of house-
hold hazardous wastes on homeowners and the
environment. Also provides information on collec-
tion programs conducted at state and local levels
and the benefits and problems associated with these
programs.
8-25
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-6. Printed Information on Hazardous Substances (continued)
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
Indoor Air—Asbestos
Asbestos in the Home, EPA and Consumer Product
Safety Commission, 1982,12 pages
Describes what asbestos is, where it may be found
in the home, and possible health risks of exposure to
asbestos; also describes proper procedures to use
for asbestos removal.
"Asbestos in the Home"
Washington, DC 20207
Indoor Air—Radon
A Citizen's Guide to Radon, EPA and U.S. Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services, 1986, OPA-86-
004,14 pages
Discusses general information on what radon is,
how to test your home, and how radon exposure
increases the risk of lung cancer.
Radon Reduction Methods: A Homeowner's Guide,
EPA, 1986, OPA-86-005 (in revision), 24 pages
Provides information on various methods for
reducing radon exposure in the home.
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Pesticides
A Consumer's Guide to Safer Pesticide Use, EPA,
1987, OPA 87-013, 25 pages
Contains information on the history and prevalence
of pesticide use, possible exposure paths, tips for
safer pesticide use, what to do in an emergency,
and an overview of the legal and regulatory
environment surrounding pesticides.
Pesticide Fact Sheets
Describes the chemical composition, use patterns
and formulations, scientific findings (on health
effects), regulatory positions and rationale, labeling
statements, summary of data gaps, and an EPA
contact person for each of 206 pesticides.
Public Information Center PM 211B
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-2080
Information about:
Office of Pesticide Programs
Document Management Section
(H7502C)
ISB/PMSD
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 557-4474
(continued on next page)
8-26
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-6. Printed Information on Hazardous Substances (continued)
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
Pesticides (cont'd)
Pesticide Fact Sheets (cont'd)
Health Advisory Summaries, EPA Office of Water,
1989 (2 pages each)
Provides information on health effects of pesticides
and suggests actions to take to ensure a safe
drinking water supply. Health advisory information
has been prepared for substances that have the
potential for reaching drinking water supplies.
Order from:
National Technical Information Service
Attn. Order Desk
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
(703) 487-4650
Safe Drinking Water Hotline
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-120
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
1-800-426-4791
In Washington, DC and Alaska
(202) 382-5533
Food
Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer Prevention: The Good
News, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 1986,15 pages
Provides general recommendations and information
on food choices that reduce cancer risk and promote
better health; good listings of high-fiber and low-fat
foods.
Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer Prevention: A Guide to
Food Choices, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, 1987, 39 pages
Presents comprehensive information on healthy diet
and nutrition; contains information on low-fat and
high-fiber goods, shopping tips, recipes, and
explanations of how to calculate the percentage of
fat in your diet.
Diet and Health: Implications for Reducing Chronic
Disease Risk, National Research Council, 1989,
748 pages ($49.95)
Office of Cancer Communications
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD 20892
1-800-4-CANCER
On Oahu, Hawaii
524-1234
(neighbor islands call collect)
Office of Cancer Communications
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD 20892
1-800-4-CANCER
On Oahu, Hawaii
524-1234
(neighbor islands call collect)
National Academy Press
2101 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20418
(202) 334-3313
Send prepayment
8-27
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-6. Printed Information on Hazardous Substances (continued)
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
General Sources of Health Effects Information
Everything Doesn't Cause Cancer, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, 1987,16 pages
Answers common questions about the causes and
prevention of cancer and about the laboratory
animal tests that can identify cancer-causing
substances.
Good News, Better News, Best News—Cancer
Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, undated, 22 pages
Describes various factors that increase the risk of
cancer and simple things that you can do to lower
your risk.
Good News for Blacks About Cancer, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 1987,
8 pages
Describes preventive steps that blacks can take to
reduce their risk of various forms of cancer.
Office of Cancer Communications
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD 20892
1 -800-4-CANCER
On Oahu, Hawaii
524-1234
(neighbor islands call collect)
Office of Cancer Communications
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD 20892
1-800-4-CANCER
On Oahu, Hawaii
524-1234
(neighbor islands call collect)
Office of Cancer Communications
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD 20892
1-800-4-CANCER
On Oahu, Hawaii
524-1234
(neighbor islands call collect)
Health Effects Information
Toxicological Profiles, ATSDR and EPA
Provides profiles for the hazardous substances
which are most commonly found at Superfund sites
that pose a significant potential threat to human
health. Each profile characterizes the toxicological
and health effects information for the substance and
identifies and reviews key literature that describes
the substances toxicological properties. Written for
health professionals and for the public.
Information about:
Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (F-38)
U.S. Public Health Service
Department of Health and Human
Services
Caffilene Allen, Public Relations
1600 Clifton Rd., NE
Atlanta, GA 30333
(404) 488-4630
Order from:
National Technical Information Service
(NTIS)
Attn: Order Desk
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
(703) 487-4650
8-28
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8. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Table 8-7. Computerized Information on Hazardous Substances
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
WHERE TO WRITE OR CALL
Health Effects Information
Toxicology Data Network System (TOXNET),
Bethesda, MD, National Library of Medicine
Available online through a personal computer and
modem connection, or in a medical library. The
database provides citations, and often abstracts, for
journal articles and monographs. TOXNET contains
four databases:
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
1-800-638-8480 or
(301)496-6193
• Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), which
focuses on toxicology of potentially hazardous
chemicals.
* Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances
(RTECS), which contains information on the toxic
effects of some 90,000 chemicals.
• Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information
System (CCRIS), which contains information on
carcinogenicity of substances.
• Toxic Chemical Release Inventory (TRI), which
contains information on the annual estimated
releases of toxic chemicals in the environment.
To assess these files by personal computer, you must
receive a MEDLARS account by calling the National
Library of Medicine.
'Publication list is current as of November 1989.
8-29
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GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY
Aflatoxin
Air Quality Standards
Alar
Ammonia
Arsenic
Asbestos
Ban
Benzene
Byproduct
CAA
Cadmium
Any of several mycotoxins that are produced especially in corn or oil-
seed meals by molds (as Aspergillus flavus) and are suspected of
being carcinogenic
The level of pollutants prescribed by regulations that may not be
exceeded during a specified time in a defined area
Trade name for daminozide, a pesticide that makes apples redder,
firmer, and less likely to drop off trees before growers are ready to
pick them. It is also used to a lesser extent on peanuts, tart
cherries, concord grapes, and other fruits
A pungent colorless gaseous alkaline compound of nitrogen and hydro-
gen that is very soluble in water and can easily be condensed to a
liquid by cold and pressure
A trivalent and pentavelent solid poisonous element that is commoniy
mettalic steel-gray crystalline, and brittle
A mineral fiber that can pollute air or water and cause cancer or asbes-
tosis when inhaled. EPA has banned or severely restricted its use in
manufacturing and construction.
Legal prohibition
A colorless volatile flammable toxic liquid aromatic hydrocarbon used in
organic synthesis, as a solvent, and as a motor fuel
Material, other than the principal product, that is generated as a conse-
quence of an industrial process
Clean Air Act—provides the basic legal authority for the nation's air
pollution contraprograms and is designed to enhance the quality of
air resources
A blueish white malleable ductile toxic bivalent metallic element used
especially in protective platings and in bearing metals
G-1
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GLOSSARY
Cancer
Carbon
Carbon tetrachloride
Carcinogen
CERCLA
Chlorine
Chloroform
Contaminant
CPSC
CWA
Cyanide
A malignant tumor of potentially unlimited growth that expands locally by
invasion and systematically by metastasis
A nonmetallic chiefly tetravalent element found native or as a
constituent of coal, petroleum, and asphalt, of limestone and other
carbonates, and of organic compounds or obtained artificially in
varying degrees of purity
A colorless nonflammable toxic liquid that has an ordor resembling that
of chloroform and is used as a solvent (as in drycleaning)
A substance or agent producing or inciting cancer
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act—A federal law passed in 1980 and modified in 1986 by the
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act. The Acts created
a special tax that goes into a Trust Fund, commonly known as
Superfund, to investigate and clean up abandoned or uncontrolled
hazardous waste sites. Under the Program EPA can either pay for
site cleanup when parties responsible for the contamination cannot
be located or are unwilling or unable to perform the work or take
legal action to force parties responsible for site contamination to
clean up the site or pay back the Federal government for the cost of
the cleanup.
A halogen element that is isolated as a heavy greenish-yellow gas of
pungent odor and is used especially as a bleach, oxidizing agent,
and disinfectant in water purification
A colorless volatile heavy toxic liquid with an ether odor used especially
as a solvent or as general anesthetic
Any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter
that has an adverse affect on air, water, or soil
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Clean Water Act—the basic authority for water pollution control
programs; goal is to make national waters fishable and swimmable
A compound (as potassium cyanide) of cyanogen usually with a more
electropositive element or radical
G-2
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GLOSSARY
DDT
DHHS
DOE
DOT
Emergency Planning
and Community
Right-to-Know law
(SARA Tittle III)
Emission
Environment
EPA
Exposure
FDA
FDCA
FIFRA
Formaldehyde
The first chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticide (chemical name: Dichloro-
Diphsdyl-Trichloromethane). It has a half-life of 15 years and can
collect in fatty tissues of certain animals. EPA banned registration
and interstate sale of DDT for virtually all but emergency uses in the
United States in 1972 because of its persistence in the environment
and accumulation in the food chain.
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Energy
Department of Transportation
Legislation communicating chemical information to local agencies
or the public, as established by the Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act of 1986
Pollution discharged into the atmosphere from smokestacks, other
vents, and surface areas of commercial or industrial facilities; from
residential chimneys; and from motor vehicle, locomotive, or aircraft
exhausts
The sum of all external conditions affecting the life, development and
survival of an organism
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, established in 1970 by
Presidential Executive Order, bringing together parts of various
government agencies involved with the control of pollution
The amount of radiation or pollutant present in an environment which
represents a potential health threat to the living organisms in that
environment
Food and Drug Administration
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
Federal Insecticide, Fungacide, and Rodenticide Act, basis for
regulations governing the distribution, sale, and use of pesticides in
the United States
A colorless, pungent, irritating gas, used chiefly as a disinfectant and
preservative and in synthesizing other compounds and resins
G*3
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GLOSSARY
Hazard
Hazardous chemical
Hazardous substance
Hazardous waste
Insecticide
L
Lead
Legislation
Level of concern
(LOC)
LEPC
Methylene chloride
mcg/m3
Microorganism
NRC
A source of danger
A chemical for which there is statistically significant evidence based on
at least one study conducted in accordance with scientific principles
that acute or chronic health effects may occur in exposed employees
Any material that poses a threat to human health and/or the environ-
ment
Byproducts of society that can pose a substantial or potential hazard to
human health or the environment when improperly managed.
Possesses at least one of four characteristics (ignitability, corrosivity,
reactivity, or toxicity), or appears on special EPA lists
An agent that destroys insects
Liter—a metric unit of capacity equal to the volume of 1 kilogram of
water at 4°C and at standard atmospheric pressure of 760
millimeters of mercury
A heavy metal that is hazardous to health if breathed or swallowed. Its
use in gasoline, paints, and plumbing compounds has been sharply
restricted or eliminated by federal laws and regulations
The exercise of the power and function of making rules (as laws) that
have the force of authority by virtue of their promulgation by an
official organ of a state or other organization
The concentration in air of an extremely hazardous substance above
which there may be serious immediate health effects to anyone
exposed to it for short periods of time
Local Emergency Planning Committee, appointed by the State
Emergency Response Commission, as required by SARA Title III, to
formulate a comprehensive emergency plan for its jurisdiction
A nonflammable liquid used especially as a solvent, paint remover, and
refrigerant
Micrograms per cubic meter
An organism of microscopic or ultramicroscopic size
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
G-4
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GLOSSARY
NRDC
OSHA
Oxide
Parathion
Permit
Pesticide
Pollution
Radon
RCRA
Remedial action
Risk
Natural Resources Defense Council
Occupational Safety and Health Administration—Agency under U.S.
Department of Labor which has responsibility for administration and
enforcement authority for the adoption and promulgation of
occupational standards, regulations, and safety and health rules for
the protection of employees in the nation's workplaces.
A binary compound of oxygen with an element or radical
An extremely toxic thiophosphate insecticide
An authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued by EPA
or an approved state agency to implement the requirements of an
environmental regulation; e.g., a permit to operate a wastewater
treatment plant or to operate a facility that may generate harmful
emissions
Substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying,
repelling, or mitigating any pest. Also, any substance or mixture of
substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desic-
cant. Pesticides can accumulate in the food chain and/or contami-
nate the environment if misused.
Generally, the presence of matter or energy whose nature, location or
quantity produces undesired environmental effects. Under the
Clean Water Act, for example, the term is defined as the man-made
or man-induced alteration of the physical, biological, and radiological
integrity of water.
A colorless naturally occurring, radioactive, inert gaseous element
formed by radioactive decay of radium atoms in soil or rocks
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act—A federal law that
established a regulatory system to track hazardous substances from
the time of generation to disposal. The law requires safe and secure
procedures to be used in treating, transporting, storing, and
disposing of hazardous substances. RCRA is designed to prevent
new, uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
The actual construction or implementation phase of a Superfund site
cleanup that follows remedial design
Possibility of loss or injury; a dangerous element or factor
G-5
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GLOSSARY
Salmonella
Salmonellosis
SARA
SDWA
SERC
Solvent
Substance
Superfund
TRI
TSCA
WLM
Xylene
Any of the genus of aerobic rod-shaped usually motile bacteria that are
pathogenic for man and other warm-blooded animals and cause
food poisoning, gastrointestinal inflammation, or diseases of the
genital tract
Infection with or desease caused by salmonella
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986
Safe Drinking Water Act
State Emergency Response Commission, appointed by each state
governor according to the requirements of SARA Title III. The
SERC's designate emergency planning, districts, appoint local
emergency planning committees, and supervise and coordinate their
activities.
A liquid substance capable of dissolving or dispersing one or more other
substances
Physical material from which something is made or which has discrete
existence; matter of particular or definite chemical constitution
The program operated under the legislative authority of CERCLA and
SARA that funds and carries out the EPA solid waste emergency
and long-term removal remedial activities. These activities include
establishing the National Priorities List, investigating sites for inclu-
sion on the list, determining their priority level on the list, and
conducting and/or supervising the ultimately determined cleanup
and other remedial actions.
Toxic Release Inventory
Toxic Substances Control Act
Working-level month—the standard unit of measure for environmental
levels of radon
Any of three toxic flammable oily isomeric aromatic hydrocarbons that
are dimethyl homologues of benzene and are obtained from wood
tar, coal tar, or petroleum distillates; also a mixture of xylenes and
ethyl-benzene used chiefly as a solvent
G-6
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