CERI-91-53
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Region II, New York, New York 10278
DATE:
SUBJECT:
TROM:
July 19, 1991
Risk Assessment Review
P.E.
nistrator
William J. tfefsz^hs
Deputy Regional A
William Farland, Ph.D. / / /T
Director	(//		
Office of Health and Environmental Assessment
Attached is a copy of the Risk Assessment Review, a bimonthly
publication that is a cooperative effort between the Office
of Research and Development and the Regional Risk Assessment
Network.
The Review serves as a focal point for information exchange
among the EPA risk assessment community on both technical and
policy issues related to' risk assessment. It is currently in
its fourth year of publication and we are pleased .at the
positive feedback we've received on the Review's usefulness
to staff across the Agency.
Thanks to all of you who continue to contribute articles and
are involved with production efforts. If you have an article
to contribute or any suggestions for further issues, contact
one of the Committee members listed on page 1 of the Review.
Attachment

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July 1991
Highlights. . 1
•	News from the Risk Assessment Forum	
•	IRIS Update	
•	New Teaching Tools on Environmental and
Occupational Health and Safety for Grades K-12.,
	P-1
	P-1

mmmmm
I. Special Feature

News from the Risk Assessment Forum

by Shirley G. Thomas (FTS 475-6743)

Following is information on upcoming forum activities.
Risk Problem Clinic: Use of Subchronic Data for Carcino-
gen Risk Assessment—The Risk Assessment Forum in-
vited interested Agency scientists to a "risk problem clinic"
that was held on July 8,1991, between 8:30 and 4:00 at the
Holiday Inn, 500 C Street, S.W., Washington, DC. The
purpose of the clinic was to air issues on the use of subchronic
data and other (non-chronic) information for carcinogen
risk assessment when expected exposure is low. The analy-
ses that are needed to support such risk assessments was
also discussed. For additional information, please contact
Dr. Dorothy E. Patton, FTS 475-6743.
Ecorisk Workshops: The Risk Assessment Forum's eco-
logical risk work groups are completing the projects on
guidelines initiated last fall and will begin Forum and Risk
Assessment Council review in August and September. Work-
shops on Strategic Planning for Ecological Risk Assess-
ment Guidelines, Framework for Ecological Risk
Assessment, and Ecological Risk Assessment Case Studies
were concluded. The appropriate reports from each of these
workshops will be made available to the public in a future
issue of the Federal Register. For additional information,
please contact Dr. William van der Schalie, FTS 475-6743.
II. Headquarters
IRIS Update
by Linda Tuxen (FTS 382-5949)
As of June 1, 1991, IRIS contained 478 substances. This
included 341 oral reference dose (RfD) and 34 inhalation
reference concentration (RfC) summary sections, and 202
carcinogen assessments, for a total of 577 risk information
summaries.
Specifically, the June update included the addition of carci-
nogenicity risk summaries for apollo, aramite, assure, and
ciotonaldehyde, an oral RfD section for selenium and com-
pounds, and the replacement of oral RfDs for aldicarb and
selenious acid that were previously withdrawn. Also added
were inhalation RfC risk summaries for propylene glycol
and propylene monoethyl ether.
III. Around the Regions
Region II
New Teaching Tools on Environmental and
Occupational Health and Safety for Grades K-12
The. Resource Center of the Environmental and Occupa-
tional Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), sponsored by the
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
(UMDNJ) and Rutgers—The State University of New Jer-
sey are working to develop innovative new teaching tools
about environmental and occupational health and safety.
The center is a joint endeavor of EOHSI and the New Jersey
Department of Health.*
The center's written material is prepared by faculty and
staff of the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School,
Rutgers University, and the New Jersey Department of
Health, with extensive input from groups that will be using
the materials.
The center has produced the following documents that may
be of interest to risk assessors:
• A teacher's guide Occupational Health Awareness:
Lessons for Vocational Students in Secondary
Schools, includes 54 slides, a video, and six lesson
plans, encouraging experimental learning. For
example, one lesson plan requires students to identify
occupational hazards in a school shop. In another
exercise the students are required to document
workplace hazards in a specific occupation.
"Healthy Environment—Healthy Me," created for
elementary schools, is a series .of lessons on environ-
mental health and safety for Kindergarten through 6th
grades, which includes seven videotapes geared
toward each grade level. One video on recycling,
"Alu-Man the Can" is aimed at students in grades K-
3, while another on water pollution is targeted for
grades 4-6.	See Region II, p. 2
* The information on the Resource Center of the Environmental and
Occupational Health Sciences Institute is provided for information
purposes only and does not reflect an official endorsement by the
Agency of these products.
Risk Assessment Review Committee
Bill Farland — ORD, FTS 382-7317
Maureen McClelland — Region I, FTS 835-4885
Maria Pavlova -- Region II, FTS 264-7364
Marian Olscn — Region II, FTS 264-5682
Suzanne Wuerthcle — Region VIII, FTS 330-0961
Dana Davoli — Region X, FTS 399-2135
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Region II (continued from p. 1)
• The Environment and the Community: Environmental
Health Lessons for Grades 10-12, is aimed at
increasing students' understanding of the many
factors that affect the health and well-being of
individuals and their community. This five-lesson
program includes a video, a teacher's guide with
comprehensive lesson plans, student readings, and
additional teacher preparation materials. The educa-
tional program is designed to enable students to
develop skills for addressing environmental problems
in their communities.
The Resource Center also publishes the INFOletter, a scien-
tific newsletter written for the lay public, that spotlights
such key environmental and occupational health issues as
the greenhouse effect, drinking water quality, and recy-
cling. The INFOletter is distributed to industry, schools,
physicians, employees, and the general public.
The INFOsheet, a briefer counterpart to the INFOletter, is a
two-page publication designed to provide accurate informa-
tion on potential hazards in the home and on the job. The
INFOsheet is designed for schools and businesses and
presents in everyday language information on such topics as
radon exposure and disposal of household waste.
For information about the training workshops contact Jan
Gottlieb at (201) 463-5353 or write to the Resource Center
of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Institute (EOHSI), Public Education and Risk Communica-
tion Division, Brookwood, II 45 Knightsbridge Road,
Piscataway, New Jersey 08854.
Technical Assistance Directory for Ground-Water
Research
The Office of Technology Transfer and Regulatory Support
(Or IKS) in the Office of Research and Development (ORD)
has published the third edition of the Ground-Water Tech-
nical Assistant Directory (EPA/600-9-91/006, March 1991).
The directory is intended to foster communication among
scientists and engineers throughout ORD and among EPA,
state, and local personnel involved in the protection and
management of ground-water resources. In addition to list-
ing ORD researchers by location and subject matter, the
directory provides brief organizational descriptions of the
ground-water research programs for each ORD office.
The scientists and engineers listed in this directory conduct
or manage research, development, demonstration and tech-
nical assistance projects to support the regulatory programs
of EPA's Office of Water, Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response, and Office of Pesticides and Toxic
Substances. Copies of this document are available from the
Center for Environmental Research Information (CERI),
Publication Order Office at FTS 684-7562 or (513) 569-
7391.
Publication of CDC's Annual Report on the
Nation's Health
The Center for Disease Control's National Center for Health
Statistics has issued "Health, United States, 1990." The
report includes a chartbook section on minority health, with
detailed racial/ethnic data on major health indicators and a
review of the health of and health care for the nation. The
report also provides data on a wide range of health mea-
sures.
Copies of the document are available from the Superinten-
dent of Documents, Government Printing Office (GPO),
Washington, D.C. 20402; telephone (202) 783-3238; Stock
No. 017-022; price $18.00. Tables from the report are
available on diskette in spread-sheet format to facilitate
additional data analysis; for copies of the diskettes, contact
GPO's Electronic Media Order Desk; telephone (202) 275-
0186.
Proceedings of the Fourth National Environmen-
tal Health Conference
The proceedings from the Fourth National Environmental
Health Conference, "Environmental Issues: Today's Chal-
lenge for the Future," have been published. This confer-
ence was cosponsored by the Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry (ATSDR), CDC's Center for Environ-
mental Health and Injury Control, and the Association of
State and Territorial Health Offices. The conference was
held on June 20-23, 1989, in San Antonio, Texas. The
proceedings contain presentations from the conference,
which included epidemiology and laboratory methodolo-
gies, individual environmental hazards, ethical and legal
issues, communication and risk assessment, psychosocial
factors, and institutional programs.
Copies may be purchased from the U. S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402-9325; telephone
(202) 783-3238; Fax (202) 275-0019 (postage-paid cost:
domestic $17.00; foreign $21.25).
Single copies are available without charge to state and local
government agencies from the Office of Policy and Exter-
nal Affairs, ATSDR, Mailstop E-28, 1600 Clifton Road,
N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30333.
IV. Announcements
Risk and Decision-making Courses Scheduled
The following is the schedule for the Risk and Decision-
making Courses through August:
August 20-22 Region II (Governor's Island, New York)
The following is the schedule for the Risk Communication
Workshops through August:
August 6 - 8 Region IX (Long Beach, California)
Contacts: Jim Cole (FTS 382-2747)
Marian Olsen (FTS 264-5682)
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Sixth National Conference on Chronic Disease
Prevention and Control
CDC, the Association of State and Territorial Health Offi-
cials, and the Association of State and Territorial Chronic
Disease Program Directors will cosponsor the Sixth Na-
tional Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and Con-
trol, "Making Prevention a Reality," October 22-24,1991,
in Washington, D.C.
The conference will emphasize interactions among federal,
state, and local health departments; voluntary health
agencies; and professional organizations. Topics will in-
clude legislative issues in chronic disease prevention; ac-
tion for achieving the national health objectives for the year
2,000; epidemiology; and academic and public health agency
linkages.
For additional information concerning the meetings please
contact the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion, Mailstop K-43, Centers for Disease Con-
trol, Atlanta, Georgia 30333; telephone (404) 488-5390;.
Fax (404) 488-5962.
American College of Epidemiology Annual
Meeting
The annual meeting of the American College of Epidemiol-
ogy (ACE) will be held November 7-8,1991, at the Centers
for Disease Control; the theme is "Morbidity/Mortality
Gap: Is It Race or Racism"? Information and guidelines for
submitting abstracts are available from the Chair, American
College of Epidemiology Program Committee, Office of
the Director, Mailstop A-50, Centers for Disease Control
1600 Clifton Road, N.W., Adanta, Georgia 30333; tele-
phone (404) 639-3318; Fax (404) 639-2195.
Contacts:


Jerome Puskin
OAR-RAD
FTS 475-9640
Linda Tuxen
ORD-OHEA
FTS 382-5949
Dorothy Patton
ORD-RAF
FTS 475-6743
Dick Hill
OPTS
FTS 382-2897
Don Barnes
SAB
FTS 382-4126
Dean Hill
NEIC
FTS 776-8138
Maureen McClelland
Region I
FTS 835-4885
Marian Olsen
Region II
FTS 264-5682
Jeffrey Burke
Region III
FTS 597-1177
Elmer Akin
Region IV
FTS 257-1586
Milt Clark
Region V
FTS 886-3388
Jon Rauscher
Region VI
FTS 255-6715
Mary Williams
Region VII
FTS 757-2970
Suzanne Wuerthele
Region VIII
FTS 330-0961
Arnold Den
Region IX
FTS 556-6472
Dana Davoli
Region X
FTS 399-2135
If you would like to receive additional copies of
this and subsequent Reviews or to be added to the
mailing list contact:
CERI Distribution
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268
Need Help?
If your office needs help in finding information or
assistance on a specific risk assessment problem, you
can announce that need on the Risk Assessment/Risk
Management Bulletin Board now available on E-Mail.
Your colleagues from other offices who have informa-
tion or advice will be able to contact you with assis-
tance. For assistance in posting announcements or
reading entries on the Bulletin Board, type PRPOST at
the > prompt and identify RISK as the Category. Your
colleagues from other offices who have information or
advice will be able to contact you with assistance. For
additional information please contact Marian Olsen at
FTS 264-5682.
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