4>EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA 601/R-12/007 I February 2012 I www.epa.gov/research
Human Health Risk Assessment
STRATEGIC RESEARCH
ACTION PLAN 2012-2016
Office of Research and Development
Human Health Risk Assessment
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EPA 601/R-12/007
Human Health Risk Assessment
Strategic Research Action Plan 2012 - 2016
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
February 2012
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary 4
Introduction 7
Program Design 10
Producing an Integrated Program 10
Research Themes and Priority Science Questions 14
Theme 1: Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Health Hazard and
Dose-Response Assessments 14
Theme 2: Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) of Criteria Air Pollutants 17
Theme 3: Community Risk and Technical Support (CRTS) for Exposure
and Health Assessments 20
Theme 4: Modernizing Risk Assessment Methods 23
Summary Tables of Outputs and Outcomes 27
Appendix A- Research Program Partners and Stakeholders 36
EPA Research Program Partners 36
Other Governmental Stakeholders 36
Nongovernmental Organizations 37
Appendix B - IRIS Process 38
Appendix C - ISA Process 39
Appendix D - ISA Planning Chart 40
Appendix E - List of Definitions 41
References. . .42
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Executive Summary
This document outlines the strategic plan for EPA's Human Health Risk Assessment
research efforts, and how they support and are integrated into the overall research
portfolio of the Agency's Office of Research and Development.
The Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) research program is one of six priority National
Research Program areas within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of
Research and Development (ORD). The HHRA research program plays a unique role in serving
the needs of EPA's programs and regions, as well as the broader risk assessment/management
community, by identifying, evaluating, synthesizing and integrating scientific information on
individual chemicals and chemical mixtures. The state-of-the-science, independently peer-
reviewed human health assessments prepared under the HHRA research program serve as the
foundation for EPA's regulatory and other decision-making.
Problem Statement: EPA's decisions must be based on scientifically-defensible evaluations
of data that are relevant to assessing human health impacts. The current demand for human
health assessments of individual chemicals and chemical mixtures is not being fully met.
Vision Statement: The HHRA research program will generate timely, credible human health
assessments of individual chemicals and chemical mixtures to support priority EPA risk
management decisions, thereby enabling EPA to better predict and prevent risk.
Research Themes: The HHRA research program is comprised of four complementary and
integrated research themes:
1. Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health hazard and dose-response
assessments;
2. Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) of criteria air pollutants;
3. Community Risk and Technical Support (CRTS) for exposure and health assessments;
and
4. Modernizing Risk Assessment Methods (Methods).
Theme 1 (IRIS) Outputs and Impacts: IRIS assessments are used widely by EPA's
programs and regions, states, international organizations and the general public as a scientific
foundation for decision-making (e.g., site-specific cleanups, rules, regulations and health
policy determinations). Potential impacts that may result from these decisions include reduced
environmental exposures, reduced disease burdens and improved public health. Additionally,
improvements to the IRIS process and database will increase the transparency and clarity of
IRIS assessments.
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Examples of outputs produced under the IRIS theme include: individual IRIS assessments,
scientific and technical support, and improvements to the IRIS process and database utility.
Theme 2 (ISAs) Outputs and Impacts: Under the ISA theme, HHRA scientists develop ISAs
summarizing the state-of-the-science for the six criteria air pollutants—ozone, particulate matter,
sulfur and nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead—and Multipollutant Science Assessments
(MSAs) to support the reviews of the primary (health-based) and secondary (welfare-based)
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), as well as to address the combined effects
of nitrous and sulfur oxides. ISAs provide the scientific foundation for the EPA Administrator's
decision on each of the NAAQS. Attainment of the NAAQS for these pollutants has been
estimated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and EPA to provide significant public
health and environmental benefits to the American public that far exceed the cost of control
programs. The direct benefits of EPA's air programs include the reduced incidence of a number
of adverse human health impacts, including premature death and disease, improvements in
visibility and avoided damage to agricultural crops and other vegetation.
Theme 3 (CRTS) Outputs and Impacts: Major outputs of the CRTS theme include quick
turn-around exposure and risk assessments, crisis-level technical support, the development
of Provisional Peer Reviewed Toxicity Values (PPRTVs), tools and guidance for exposure
assessments and methods and tools for conducting cumulative impact assessments. The rapid
response and applied technical support provided under the CRTS theme enhances the ability of
EPA regional offices to quickly make sound, risk-based decisions regarding emerging issues of
concern in their communities.
ORD's work in this area also ensures that EPA regional offices have the requisite tools to
address community needs for screening-level decisions, records of decisions and permitting
through risk-based information. EPA's ability to respond to environmental justice concerns
also will be enhanced through the incorporation of nonchemical stressors into community risk
assessment. The development of PPRTVs enables the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response (OSWER) to make informed clean-up decisions at contaminated Superfund sites,
which can lead to improvements in human and ecological health in the vicinity of Superfund
sites, as well as improved economic conditions and quality of life for nearby communities.
Across the board, Theme 3 outputs will positively contribute to protecting the public's health,
including reducing risks for sensitive populations.
Theme 4 (Methods) Outputs and Impacts: Theme 4 focuses on the translation of research,
described in the Chemical Safety and Sustainability (CSS) research program and state-of-
the-science methods from peer reviewed sources, into practical application in IRIS, ISA, MSA,
and PPRTV assessments and in assessing special problems (e.g., hydraulic fracturing under
the Safe and Sustainable Water Resources (SSWR) research program). Theme 4 products
will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of EPA risk assessment programs by developing
innovative approaches and applying them to mine databases and link information to users'
needs in a more effective fashion. This process will enable assessments to be performed quickly
and more transparently. Additionally, using quantitative estimates of incremental population
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risk, along with better quantitative characterization of uncertainty and variability, will enable risk
managers to more effectively use HHRA products in the context of formal decision analysis
and cost-benefit analysis. This theme also includes the development of the Risk Assessment
Training and Experience (RATE) Program and the application of Health and Environmental
Research Online (HERO) to assessment products.
Crosscutting Issues: HHRA products rely on expertise and research conducted by the other
research programs within ORD. Additionally, when developing products, HHRA scientists take
into account important cross-cutting issues identified in EPA's FY 2011 - 2015 Strategic Plan:
Sharing Our Vision, such as environmental justice and children's health.
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Introduction
In fiscal year (FY) 2012, EPA is realigning
and integrating the work of its research
programs. Under the new structure, the
HHRA research program will continue
to provide state-of-the-science products
in support of risk assessment, such as
independently peer reviewed human
health assessments for individual
chemicals and chemical mixtures;
integrated science assessments for criteria air pollutants;
technical support to meet partner and stakeholder needs;
health risk assessment.
rapid risk assessment and
and tools to modernize human
HHRA products are used extensively by EPA
program and regional offices, as well as other
parties, to make decisions, develop regulatory
standards for environmental contaminants and
manage cleanups.
The work conducted by the HHRA research
program responds directly to the needs of
EPA's program and regional offices, as well
as to issues of shared concern among the
broader risk assessment community, and falls
into four complementary areas, or themes.
Within each theme, HHRA scientists work
with partners and stakeholders to provide
science translation and technical support
for HHRA's products. The HHRA research
program will continue to evolve in order to
meet complex environmental challenges and
stakeholder needs, as demonstrated by the
recent innovations in the ISAs for criteria air
pollutants and through ongoing improvements
to the draft development process for IRIS
assessments.
Every day, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) must make decisions about
environmental pollutants that impact human
health and the environment. According to
the Toxic Substances Control Act Chemical
Substance Inventory, there are currently more
than 80,000 chemicals in commerce, and an
additional 1,000 new chemicals are introduced
each year. Only a small fraction of these
chemicals have been adequately assessed for
potential environmental and human health risk,
often because of limitations in existing data,
tools and resources.
Problem Statement: EPA's decisions must
be based on defensible scientific evaluations
of data that are relevant to assessing human
health impacts. The current demand for
human health assessments of individual
chemicals and chemical mixtures is not being
fully met.
Vision Statement: The HHRA research
program will generate timely, credible human
health assessments of individual chemicals
and chemical mixtures to support priority EPA
risk management decisions, thereby enabling
EPA to better predict and prevent risk.
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Statutory Authority, Executive Orders
and Policies Relevant to the Conduct
of Research Under the HHRA Research
Program
The HHRA research program has statutory
authority to conduct its work under:
• The Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 103
mandates that EPA conduct a national
research and development program for the
prevention and control of air pollution. The
1990 CAA Amendments further require
EPA to set NAAQS (40 CFR Part 50) for
pollutants considered harmful to public
health and the environment on a 5-year
cycle and mandate the determination of
risks from mobile, area and major sources
of air toxics. The ISAs that are developed
under the HHRA research program
serve as the basis for the Administrator's
decision on the individual NAAQS.
• The Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA) authorizes research and
assessments focusing on microbes (e.g.,
Cryptosporidium), disinfection byproducts,
arsenic, sulfate and radon. The SDWA
also mandates that risks are quantified for
general and sensitive populations (e.g.,
infants, children, pregnant women) as part
of cost-benefit analysis when Maximum
Contaminant Levels are established.
Other research provisions address risks
associated with waterborne disease,
complex mixtures and unregulated
contaminants (e.g., development of
Contaminant Candidate List).
• The Food Quality Protection Act
(1996) requires assessment of risk
from exposures to pesticides, including
aggregate exposures and cumulative risk
and risk to sensitive subpopulations (e.g.,
infants and children).
• The Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act (Superfund, 1980) requires research,
development and training to improve EPA's
scientific capability to assess effects on
and risk to human health from hazardous
substances.
The HHRA research program also is
responsive to Executive Orders and EPA
policies, such as:
• Executive Order 13045: Protection of
Children from Environmental Health
Risks and Safety Risks, which states
that each federal agency "(a) shall make
it a high priority to identify and assess
environmental health risks and safety risks
that may disproportionately affect children;
and (b) shall ensure that its policies,
programs, activities, and standards
address disproportionate risks to children
that result from environmental health risks
or safety risks."
• EPA's 1995 Policy on Evaluating Risk
to Children, which states that "It is the
policy of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to consider the risks to
infants and children consistently and
explicitly as a part of risk assessments
generated during its decision making
process, including the setting of
standards to protect public health and the
environment."
• Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions
To Address Environmental Justice in
Minority Populations and Low-Income
Populations, which states that "(a)
Environmental human health research,
whenever practicable and appropriate,
shall include diverse segments of the
population in epidemiological and clinical
studies, including segments at high
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risk from environmental hazards, such
as minority populations, low-income
populations and workers who may be
exposed to, substantial environmental
hazards" and "(b) Environmental human
health analyses, whenever practicable
and appropriate, shall identify multiple and
cumulative exposures."
• EPA's 2011 Environmental Justice
Action Plan ("Plan EJ 2014"), which
established measurable commitments
that address the Agency's national
environmental justice priorities. These
priorities created an Agency-wide focus
on matters that environmental justice
advocates and others have identified as
critical environmental justice issues.
Addressing EPA Priorities
EPA's FY2011-2015 Strategic Plan (2010)
identified five strategic goals to guide the
Agency's work: (1) Taking Action on Climate
Change and Improving Air Quality, (2)
Protecting America's Waters, (3) Cleaning
Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable
Development, (4) Ensuring the Safety of
Chemicals and Preventing Pollution, and (5)
Enforcing Environmental Laws. The HHRA
research program provides key contributions
to Goals 1 and 4, and contributes to Goals 2
and 3.
EPA's Priorities:
Taking action on climate change
Improving air quality
Assuring the safety of chemicals
Cleaning up our communities
Protecting America's waters
Expanding the conversation on
environmentalism and working for
environmental justice
Building strong state and tribal
partnerships
EPA's strategic plan also introduced the
five cross-cutting fundamental strategies:
(1) working for environmental justice and
children's health; (2) advancing science,
research and technological innovation; (3)
strengthening state, tribal and international
partnerships; (4) strengthening EPA's
workforce and capabilities; and (5) expanding
the conversation on environmentalism.
These fundamental strategies are taken into
consideration in the development of HHRA
products.
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Program Design
Producing an Integrated Program
HHRA is an existing multidisciplinary program that serves as a key interface between
ORD and Agency decision-makers. The program's four themes and their related outputs
are aligned with partner-identified needs.
The four themes are:
1. Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health hazard and dose- response
assessments;
2. Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) of criteria air pollutants;
3. Community Risk and Technical Support (CRTS) for exposure and health
assessments; and
4. Modernizing Risk Assessment Methods (Methods).
The primary focus of the above four themes
is the development of high-value health
assessments. As a complement to these
assessments, HHRA scientists are also
contributing to the development of methods
and the application of emerging science
to modernize risk assessment. The HHRA
research program also includes a sizable
component of technical support to meet
partner and stakeholder needs. The program
did not require significant revisions to its major
themes from the previous 2007 Multi-Year
Plan. The main differences are the creation
of a separate theme to address community
risk and technical support and a change in
emphasis in the methods development area
in response to recent National Academy of
Sciences (MAS) National Research Council
(NRC) recommendations (NRC 2007, 2008,
2009, 2011).
Collaborating Across ORD National
Research Programs
The HHRA research program occupies a
critical position as the integrator of many
aspects of ORD's research portfolio. While
the other national programs conduct primary
research and generate new data, HHRA
scientists synthesize and integrate this
information to develop state-of-the-science
assessments and risk assessment methods.
HHRA products in turn feed back into the work
being done by the other national programs.
For example, HHRA products help to identify
research needs and data gaps, which inform
the primary studies being conducted by the
other national programs.
Examples of HHRA synthesis products and the
ORD research programs they inform include:
Exposure Factors Handbook and Child-
Specific Exposure Factors Handbook—
used by Sustainable and Healthy
Communities (SHC) and SSWR
IRIS health assessments—useful to
SSWR; SHC; CSS; and Air, Climate and
Energy (ACE)
• PPRTVs—helpful to SHC, CSS and
Homeland Security
ISAs for criteria air pollutants—inform ACE
and SHC
Cumulative risk assessments—relevant to
SHC, SSWR and CSS
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Developing Partnerships from the Start
Beyond EPA, HHRA products—such as
IRIS assessments, ISAs, and guidance
documents—are widely recognized as
the principal environmental health risk
assessment benchmarks in the United
States and the world. Although nonregulatory
and nonbinding in nature, these health risk
assessment products, and the scientific
analyses therein, are referenced in many
federal, state, local and stakeholder
environmental decisions.
The HHRA research program builds close
relationships with partner federal, state and
international organizations, both in accessing
sources of toxicological and epidemiological
data and through collaborative risk
assessment development activities.
Access to data for use in risk assessments
is facilitated by scientific staff networks with
other federal agencies conducting primary
environmental health research, particularly
the National Institutes of Health-National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Toxicology Program and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's National
Center for Environmental Health.
Assessment activities are coordinated through
interagency working groups and collaborative
relationships.
The HHRA research program has three
Memoranda of Understanding (MOU); one
with the California Environmental Protection
Agency's Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment, a second with the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry and a third with the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
These MOUs increase communication
and cooperation in the development of
EPA's Six Integrated Research
Programs:
Human Health Risk Assessment
(HHRA)
Chemical Safety for Sustainability
(CSS)
Air, Climate, and Energy (ACE)
Safe and Sustainable Water
Resources (SSWR)
Sustainable and Healthy
Communities (SHC)
Homeland Security (HS) Research
toxicological assessments, reduce duplication
of efforts on chemical assessments, and foster
harmonization and development of new risk
assessment methods. In addition to these
efforts, the HHRA research program is working
with the Environmental Council of the State's
(ECOS) Interstate Technology and Regulatory
Council to develop a risk assessment training
program that could be used across the 50
states.
Close relationships also are maintained
with international organizations dealing
with environmental health risks, including
the World Health Organization through its
International Programme on Chemical Safety,
the International Agency for Research on
Cancer and the United Nations Environment
Programme through two cooperative
agreements and a MOU.
EPA regularly evaluates the assessment
development processes to ensure they are
transparent and participatory in nature. The
HHRA research program evaluates and
implements recommendations made by
Agency programs and regions, EPA's Board
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of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), the Clean
Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC),
the Science Advisory Board (SAB), the
National Academy of Sciences (MAS), and
the Government Accountability Office. The
HHRA research program is committed to
implementing recommendations that enhance
the scientific credibility of Agency decisions,
improve transparency, and increase the overall
efficiency and effectiveness of the Program.
Activities conducted under the HHRA research
program are responsive to the needs of
EPA's program and regional offices (for
a list of HHRA partners and stakeholders
see Appendix A). Throughout the program
development process representatives from the
HHRA research program met regularly with
stakeholders from across the Agency to gauge
their research needs and gather feedback
on HHRA products. The stated needs of
Agency partners and stakeholders drove the
development of the "Draft HHRA Research
Framework," which is relatively broad in
nature. At a more detailed level, the selection
and prioritization of IRIS assessments and
Provisional Peer Reviewed Toxicity Values
(PPRTVs) and the timing of Integrated
Science Assessments (ISAs) are also driven
by stakeholder needs.
As a result, HHRA efforts are well targeted
and timed to meet the needs of the Agency's
programs and regions. Additionally, senior
program managers were briefed on HHRA's
proposed activities and outputs. The results
of the planning process include alignment
and prioritization of planned ORD activities
during the three- to five-year cycle of the
RAP, which is a living document subject to
revision as programmatic needs and scientific
developments alter priorities.
On a more focused scale, ongoing planning
processes exist for a number of specific
activities under the HHRA Strategic Research
Action Plan. Regular meetings are held
with representatives from the program
and regional offices to determine research
needs and what form HHRA outputs should
take in order to most effectively respond to
those needs. Formal planning of the IRIS
assessment agenda occurs through a request
to EPA programs and regions for nominations
of priority substances for assessment.
Additionally, a Federal Register Notice (FRN)
is published requesting nominations for the
IRIS agenda; other federal agencies, as well
as any other stakeholders or members of the
public, may submit nominations.
A formal planning process is used with EPA's
Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) to coordinate
the scope and timing of the ISAs produced by
ORD with the Risk and Exposure Assessment
and Policy Assessments produced by OAR.
This plan and the various products from
ORD and OAR are reviewed by the Clean Air
Scientific Advisory Committee with opportunity
for public comment. Revisions to the ISAs
are planned every five years subject to the
requirements of the Clean Air Act, taking into
consideration resource constraints, OAR
priorities and court deadlines.
PPRTVs are prepared on an ongoing basis
at the request of EPA's Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response (OSWER) for those
substances found at clean-up sites and for
which no IRIS value is available. An OSWER
(2003) directive for site-specific assessments
lists IRIS values as the first tier and PPRTVs
as second tier in a hierarchy of toxicity values
to be used for Superfund risk assessment.
The U.S. Department of Defense and ECOS
(2007) have agreed to this same hierarchy
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for their health assessment programs in the
context of clean-up and other health and
safety decisions.
Through participation in various Agency
activities, HHRA scientists gathered important
input on the development of the HHRA
research program. Examples of activities that
yielded input include the Human Health Risk
Assessment Colloquium, a symposium and
workshop on the Environmental Justice Action
Plan, and a workshop sponsored by ORD on
children's risk issues.
In order to ensure that the RAP remains
relevant and timely, stakeholder engagement
will remain an integral and ongoing activity for
HHRA. As we move into the implementation
phase, the research coordination team (RCT)
will be formalized as a means of ensuring
continuous and open feedback on HHRA
products. RCT members will be designated
by their respective offices to represent their
organizational needs and resources.
Meeting Priority Partner and
Stakeholder Needs
The HHRA RAP comes from detailed
information from partners and stakeholders
regarding the regulatory and decision-making
contexts in which they operate. Based on their
feedback, it is clear that IRIS assessments are
necessary for accomplishing their regulatory
and decision-making needs. Additionally, the
ISA program is essential to the Office of Air
Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS)
and its ability to meet the 5-year deadlines
for the NAAQS. OAQPS has said that ISAs
have been among the best-received and
most highly respected products that ORD has
issued, and they are absolutely central to work
on the NAAQS.
Key stakeholders also provided input
regarding the importance of the work
conducted under the HHRA CRTS Theme.
In particular, OSWER and the regions
have emphasized the importance of
the development of PPRTVs, rapid risk
assessment and technical support, the
exposure factors program, the Superfund
Technical Support Center and support for
cumulative impact assessment.
Efforts taking place under HHRA's Theme
4 are particularly responsive to the priority
needs stated by Agency risk managers at the
Risk Assessment Forum Human Health Risk
Assessment Colloquium in October 2010.
Specifically, HHRA aims to address needs
identified by risk managers, by incorporating
recent advances in molecular biology and
computational sciences into risk assessment.
For additional details see the Summary Tables
below.
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Research Themes and
Priority Science Questions
Theme 1: Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
Health Hazard and Dose-Response Assessments
Develop peer-reviewed, qualitative and quantitative health hazard and dose-response
assessments on environmental pollutants of relevance to EPA's policies to protect
human health and the environment.
Science Question
What are the important human health
effects of chemicals for priority Agency
decisions?
The IRIS assessments developed by
HHRA scientists are peer-reviewed,
qualitative and quantitative health hazard
and dose-response assessments on
environmental pollutants of relevance to
EPA's policies to protect human health
and the environment. IRIS assessments
are widely used by EPA's programs and
regions, as well as outside of the Agency
by states, international organizations
and the public, to support decision-
making. EPA and the risk assessment/
risk management community consider
IRIS the premier source of health hazard
and dose-response information for
environmental pollutants. This theme also
includes efforts to strengthen the IRIS
process and database.
Illustrative Outputs/Products/Outcomes
Example 1: IRIS Assessments
Outcomes/Outputs: EPA's IRIS Program
is a human health assessment program
that evaluates quantitative and qualitative
information on effects that may result from
exposure to chemical substances found in the
environment. IRIS health assessments meet
a specific and continuing Agency need by
providing a common scientific foundation for
decision-making within EPA programs.
As of January 2011, the IRIS database
contained information on more than 550
chemical substances that represent the first
two steps (hazard identification and dose-
response evaluation) of the risk assessment
process. When supported by available data,
IRIS provides oral reference doses (RfDs) and
inhalation reference concentrations (RfCs)
for chronic noncancer health effects and
oral slope factors, inhalation unit risks and
cancer descriptors for cancer health effects.
Government and private entities combine the
information on hazard and dose-response
in IRIS assessments with specific exposure
information to help characterize public health
risks of chemical substances in site-specific or
national situations.
IRIS is EPA's preferred source of health effects
information. EPA's Superfund Program, for
example, ranks IRIS assessments at the top
of its hierarchy of sources for risk assessment
toxicity values. IRIS assessments are
available to EPA and the public online (http://
www.epa.gov/iris). Users of IRIS include: EPA
program offices and regions; other federal,
state and local agencies (at national and
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international levels); and the public, including
academia, regulated industries, environmental
organizations and individuals.
EPA decision-makers use these risk estimates
when setting standards for the release of
chemicals to air, water and land; determining
safe clean-up levels at contaminated sites;
and setting health goals and allowable levels
of chemical residues in food and drinking
water, consumer products, and indoor and
outdoor environments. This is just one
example of how IRIS assessments support
risk management decisions designed to
protect public health.
In May 2009, EPA released a revised
IRIS process to streamline and accelerate
completion of these critical science
assessments (http://www.epa.gov/iris/process.
htm). The IRIS process (depicted in Appendix
B) includes internal EPA review, interagency
review by other federal agencies and White
House offices, public review and comment,
and a rigorous, independent, external peer
review at a face-to-face panel meeting. After
each round of review, an assessment is
revised to the extent necessary to address
comments, and a disposition of comments
is prepared. The IRIS Program is the only
federal program that provides qualitative and
quantitative assessments of both cancer risks
and noncancer reference values. No other
federal health assessment program has a
similar mission and scope with a rigorous peer
review process.
To ensure that the IRIS Program conducts the
highest priority assessments, nominations are
solicited regularly from EPA program offices
and regions, other federal agencies and the
public. Criteria for selection include EPA
statutory, regulatory or programmatic needs;
potential public health impacts; availability
of science or methods to develop or update
an assessment; federal, state or other user
needs; availability of health assessments from
other organizations to leverage resources; and
availability of EPA resources to conduct the
assessment.
Products: Individual IRIS assessments.
Example 2: Strengthening the IRIS process
and database
Outputs/Outcomes: EPA strives to
continually improve IRIS assessments. In
April, 2011 the National Academy of Sciences
(NAS) National Research Council (NRC),
in their report reviewing EPA's draft IRIS
assessment for formaldehyde, made several
recommendations related to the development
of IRIS assessment. EPA agrees with the
NRC recommendations for the development
of draft IRIS assessments and is fully
implementing them consistent with the NRC's
"Roadmap for Revision," which viewed the
full implementation of their recommendations
as a multi-year process. In July 2011, EPA
announced plans to further improve the IRIS
Program, both as part of an ongoing effort to
strengthen the Program, but also in response
to the NRC recommendations1.
Specifically, at that time, EPA announced that:
• All new IRIS assessment documents
will be shorter, clearer and more visual,
concise, and transparent.
IRIS users will see a reduced volume of
text and increased clarity and transparency
of data, methods, and decision criteria,
as well as more graphical and tabular
representations of data, in IRIS
assessments.
1 http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/adrnpress.nsf/dOc-
f6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/a3fcd6083819706785
2578cb00666c4d!OpenDocument
_iyvww.epa.gof/hero
15
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Documents will be rigorously edited to
eliminate inconsistencies and address
redundancies, and related discussions
will be consolidated into concise narrative
descriptions.
In addition to changes to the draft
development process, database improvements
will enhance search functions within the IRIS
database and modernize the computational
platform. These improvements will increase
database utility for both chemical managers
and users of the database. Users looking
for existing literature and assessments of
related chemicals, adverse outcomes or
modes of action will experience improved
ease of access. Ongoing efforts to revise
the IRIS Substance Assessment Tracking
System (IRIS Track) also will increase utility
and transparency. IRIS Track was created in
2005 to allow the public to monitor the status
of chemical assessments that are in the
development process. Additionally, literature
reviews of assessments under development,
which are currently made publicly available
and announced in the Federal Register, will
also be made available in the Health and
Environmental Research Online (HERO)
database.2
Products: Strengthening the IRIS process
and database.
Impacts
Given the broad usage of IRIS assessments
by EPA program and regional offices, as well
as the general public, Theme 1 products
contribute to a reduction in environmental
exposures to chemicals and disease burdens
and improvements in public health. Because
chemicals are often considered to be safe
until evaluated, the lack of hazard and dose-
response assessments for many chemicals
could potentially lead to a systematic bias and
unintended impacts, whereby the wrong risk
management options may be selected.
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Research Themes and
Priority Science Questions
Theme 2: Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) of
Criteria Air Pollutants
Develop IS As summarizing the state-of-the-science for the six criteria air pollutants—
ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and lead—
and Multipollutant Science Assessments (MSAs) to support the reviews of the primary
(health-based) and secondary (welfare-based) NAAQS, as well as to address the
combined effects of nitrogen and sulfur oxides.
Science Question
What are the human health and environ-
mental hazards of criteria air pollutants?
Understanding the current science about
the health and welfare effects of air
pollutants is a critical Agency need to
support decisions about the NAAQS. The
ISAs and MSAs developed by the HHRA
research program provide the scientific-
basis for the Administrator's decisions
for the NAAQS. Statutory requirements
mandate the development of ISAs on a
five-year cycle. Additionally, the MSAs
are an important step in understanding
and characterizing the health and welfare
impacts of exposure to air pollutant
mixtures.
Illustrative Outputs/Products/Outcomes
Example 1: Integrated Science Assessments
(ISAs)
Outputs/Outcomes: The CAA provides
the legislative basis for the establishment,
review and revision of the NAAQS and directs
the Agency to issue air quality criteria for
pollutants that may be reasonably anticipated
to endanger public health or welfare (i.e.,
environmental and other nonhuman health
related effects). The HHRA research program
regularly develops ISAs (formerly Air Quality
Criteria Documents), which provide the
scientific basis for the EPA Administrator's
decisions on setting NAAQS. EPA released a
revised NAAQS review process in May 2009
to accelerate the delivery of these critical
science assessments and the development
of the supporting documents for NAAQS.
ISAs are a major component of the HHRA
research program's research portfolio. They
are developed on a regular 5-year cycle
in response to the statutory requirements.
ORD's ACE research program conducts
intramural laboratory-based research and
extramural research through the Science to
Achieve Results grants program in support
of ISA development. The ISAs incorporate
and synthesize research findings from the
ACE research program and others into the
assessment documents.
In developing ISAs, HHRA scientists work
with external scientists to evaluate, integrate
and synthesize evidence from the areas of
atmospheric chemistry, ecology, dosimetry,
toxicology, epidemiology, exposure, sources,
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ambient concentrations and measurement
methods. ISAs consider life stage and other
susceptibilities for exposure and/or toxicity,
including identifying whether windows of
susceptibility exist. In planning and developing
ISAs, the HHRA research program works in
very close collaboration with OAR's OAQPS,
the primary client office. For example, early
in the development process, HHRA will
convene a workshop with the client office
and the scientific community to identify
the most policy-relevant science issues. A
draft integrated plan for each ISA then is
developed that includes the ISA (which is the
responsibility of HHRA), the complementary
Risk and Exposure Assessment (if warranted),
and a Policy Assessment (both of which are
the responsibility of OAQPS).
All external review drafts of these
complementary assessment products
undergo public comment and rigorous peer
review by the CASAC. In addition, during
the development process, draft ISAs are
reviewed internally and through workshops
covering specific areas of the assessment.
See Appendix C for a chart of the ISA process.
See Appendix D for the ISA planning chart
reflecting the potential future NAAQS review
timelines.
Products: Integrated Science Assessments.
Example 2: Multipollutant Science
Assessments (MSAs)
Outputs/Outcomes: The periodic review
of NAAQS for the six criteria air pollutants
has focused on single pollutant approaches,
evaluating the independent effects of exposure
to these air pollutants. It has long been
recognized, however, that individuals are not
exposed to a single pollutant in isolation but
rather to a complex mixture of air pollution
that varies in time and space. Although there
has been a movement to shift from single to
multipollutant approaches in evaluating air
pollution-induced health effects, characterizing
the health impacts of exposure to air pollutant
mixtures presents a significant challenge to
the scientific and regulatory communities.
As an important initial step in overcoming
these challenges, HHRA and ACE scientists
are working in consultation with EPA offices
to develop MSAs to support the reviews of
the primary (health-based) and secondary
(welfare-based) NAAQS. The health
assessments, for example, will allow for an
evaluation of the combined health effects of
the exposures to mixtures of air pollutants, as
well as a more effective evaluation of health
effects of exposures to single pollutants in a
multipollutant context than what is currently
provided using single pollutant ISAs. It is
anticipated that the MSAs will serve as a
companion documents to the individual
pollutant ISAs.
Products: Multipollutant Science
Assessments (MSAs).
Impacts
Air pollution has dramatically decreased during
the 40 years of the EPA's existence. The
direct benefits of the CAA from 1970 to 1990
include reduced incidence of a number of
adverse human health effects, improvements
in visibility and avoided damage to agricultural
crops and other vegetation. These results
have been accomplished in the face of a
growing population, number of vehicles and
economy (See Figure 1).
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200%
150% -
100% -
50% -
0%
-50% -
70 BO 90 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05
According to OMB, EPA's Clean Air Program
is the largest nonmilitary federal program in
terms of economic benefits to society. ISAs
contribute directly and significantly to this
national effort to reduce the adverse health
and ecological effects caused by air pollution,
directly resulting in healthy communities that
have clean air and sustainable ecosystems.
In spite of these successes, public health and
the environment continue to be negatively
impacted by air pollution. More than 100
million people live in areas that exceed current
air pollution standards, and many ecosystems
are imperiled by atmospheric pollutants.
Children, people with preexisting diseases
and high-exposure groups are particularly at
risk. Economically disadvantaged populations
can experience higher exposures and be
at increased risk because they often reside
in less desirable, polluted areas (e.g., near
freeways). Additionally, as science progresses
more sensitive methods and a more robust
understanding of human and ecologic health
continue to reveal previously unknown impacts
even while pollution levels are decreasing.
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Research Themes and
Priority Science Questions
Theme 3: Community Risk and Technical Support
(CRTS) for Exposure and Health Assessments
Develop tools and analyses to help EPA programs and communities assess exposure
and rapidly scope the risks of emerging issues, as well as directly support the regions
by improving their ability to quickly find technical assistance on human health risk issues
within ORD.
Science Question
What tools and analyses can ORD pro-
vide to help EPA programs and communi-
ties assess exposure and rapidly scope
the risks of emerging issues?
Communities are often faced with an
urgent need for coordinated assistance to
assess and address issues of chemical
and other environmental contamination.
EPA's HHRA research program is often
called upon to assist in these situations to
provide the science to support decision-
making at cleanup sites, develop tools
to help understand community risk, or
provide rapid responses to ensure that
decision-makers have the tools they need
to address emerging community concerns
about environmental chemicals.
Work under this theme includes
quick turn-around exposure and risk
assessments, crisis-level technical
support, the development of Provisional
Peer Reviewed Toxicity Values (PPRTVs),
tools and guidance for exposure
assessments, and methods and tools for
conducting cumulative impact and risk
assessments. Taken together, this work
helps ensure that EPA's regions have
the tools and information they need to
make decisions and address community
concerns.
Illustrative Outputs/Products/Outcomes
Example 1: Quick turn-around exposure and
risk assessments
Outputs/Outcomes: Environmental
contamination issues impact real people with
legitimate concerns about potential health
risks in their community. Contamination
situations can potentially result in very high
exposures to significant segments of the
population by chemicals or other substances
known to be hazardous or suspected of
being hazardous. EPA is asked to respond
quickly, often in the face of large scientific
uncertainties. Formalizing and more clearly
articulating HHRA's ability to provide rapid risk
assessment and technical support will improve
the regions' and program offices' ability to
access critical applied expertise when dealing
with environmental health problems.
In many cases, there is a concerned public
demanding answers about exposure, hazard
and risk mitigation. These situations may
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include risks to sensitive populations—like
children—and to communities with underlying
environmental justice issues. EPA must
find ways to respond to these emerging,
crisis-level, chemical/substance issues with
sound science that allow for quick action
and, ultimately, quick decisions and effective
solutions. Responding to these types of real-
world issues is a key part of EPA's mission to
protect human health and the environment and
represents the heart of what EPA does.
In order to respond to these urgent needs,
HHRA scientists:
Perform rapid risk assessments of
contaminated sites, for instance following
the Gulf Oil Spill;
Provide guidance to EPA regions,
states and localities on how to assess
contamination risks, such as by developing
a PCB exposure estimation tool for school
building contamination; and
• Advise on field studies to gather data for
risk assessment.
Scientists in the HHRA research program
are also working to better understand
how nonchemical stressors - such as
socioeconomic status - may impact the
health effects that may result from exposure
to environmental chemicals. An important
component of work under this theme includes
developing methods to incorporate the impacts
of nonchemical stressors into community risk
assessments, better positioning the Agency to
respond to community environmental justice
concerns as called for in EPA's Plan EJ 2014.
Products: Quick turn-around exposure and
risk assessments.
Example 2: Exposures Factors Handbook
Outputs/Outcomes: An important component
of the exposure assessment process is the
selection of appropriate exposure factors for
use in an exposure assessment. Exposure
factors are related to human behavior
and characteristics that help determine
an individual's exposure to an agent. The
Exposure Factors Handbook (2011) is a key
source of exposure factor information and
has served to promote consistency among
risk assessments conducted by the Agency
and others. It provides a unique synthesis of
exposure factor data for the U.S. population
that is unavailable in any other single source.
Efforts related to the handbook have
traditionally focused on two main endeavors:
(1) development of the Exposure Factors
Handbook and related products, and (2)
directed research and assessment activities
supporting the development of new and
improved exposure factors, the use of
which will decrease exposure assessment
uncertainties. Products developed by HHRA
(e.g., Exposure Factors Handbook (U.S. EPA
1989, 1997, 2011), Child-Specific Exposure
Factors Handbook (U.S. EPA 2008)) are
used in nearly every exposure assessment
developed by the Agency.
Products: Exposures Factors Handbook.
Example 3: Provisional Peer Reviewed
Toxicity Values (PPRTVs)
Outputs/Outcomes: PPRTVs are toxicity
values derived for use in EPA's Superfund
program when a value is not available in the
IRIS database. PPRTVs are used by the
Superfund program and regional decision-
makers when making site-specific clean-up
decisions. This well-established part of the
HHRA research program will be highlighted as
a feature of the CRTS theme.
PPRTVs are derived following a review of the
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relevant scientific literature using the same
methods, sources of data and guidance used
by the IRIS program to derive values. All
PPRTVs receive internal review by a panel
of EPA scientists and external peer review by
independent scientific experts and are publicly
available (http://hhpprtv.ornl.gov).
The purpose of PPRTV documents is
to provide hazard and dose-response
assessments pertaining to chronic and
subchronic exposures to substances of
concern, present the major conclusions
reached in the hazard identification and
derivation of the PPRTVs and characterize
the overall confidence in these conclusions
and toxicity values. The use of the HERO
database, developed under Theme 4, in
the development of PPRTVs provides
transparency to that program by allowing
users of those assessments to access
the literature on which the PPRTVs are
based. PPRTV assessments are updated
approximately on a 5-year cycle for new data
or methodologies that might impact the toxicity
values or characterization of potential for
adverse human health effects and are revised
as appropriate.
Products: PPRTVs.
Impacts
The rapid risk assessments and technical
support provided under the CRTS theme
will ultimately contribute to protecting the
public's health and cleaning up contaminated
communities, key to EPA's mission and
one of its strategic goals. Additionally, the
development of tools and guidance for
exposure assessment will provide HHRA's
customers with critical information to help
understand the extent and route of exposure.
PPRTVs enable OSWER to make clean-up
decisions at contaminated Superfund sites.
The implications of these decisions include
improvements in human health in the vicinity
of Superfund sites, reduction or reversal of
damages to natural resources, reduction
of harm in emergency situations, improved
economic conditions and quality of life in
communities affected by hazardous waste
sites, improved environmental practices
by industry and advances in science and
technology. Theme 3 activities also support
EPA's ability to positively respond to
environmental justice concerns through the
incorporation of nonchemical stressors into
community risk assessment, contributing to
reduced risks for sensitive populations.
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Research Themes and
Priority Science Questions
Theme 4: Modernizing Risk Assessment Methods
Address high-priority Agency needs identified by risk managers, incorporate recent
advances in molecular biology and computational sciences into risk assessment, and
tackle specific scientific issues using approaches informed by recommendations from a
number of expert advisory bodies.
Science Question
How can EPA's Office of Research and
Development better meet the needs of
decision-makers by modernizing risk as-
sessment to incorporate recent scientific
innovations, including molecular biology
and computational sciences?
Theme 4 focuses on the translation of
research, described in the CSS research
program and elsewhere, into practical
application in HHRA assessments (IRIS,
ISA, MSA, and PPRTV assessments)
and in assessing special problems (e.g.,
hydrofracturing under the Safe and
Sustainable Water Resources research
program). Recently completed research
is now being utilized to develop prototype
assessments that will allow Agency risk
managers to become more familiar with
the use of molecular biology and the use of
powerful, new computational methods, thus
facilitating cheaper, faster and more robust risk
assessments.
Recent recommendations from the National
Research Council (NRC), the Science
Advisory Board (SAB) and the Board of
Scientific Counselors (BOSC) have highlighted
unmet needs and discussed use of these
new data and approaches to advance risk
assessment. For instance, Toxicity Testing
in the 21st Century (NRC 2007) lays out a
vision and strategy for using recent scientific
advances to more efficiently prioritize and
assess a large number of chemicals. The
need for advancements in risk assessment
was reiterated in Science and Decisions:
Advancing Risk Assessment (NRC 2009),
which also recognized the need for improved
approaches to dose-response quantification
across both cancer and noncancer effects to
better support Agency decisions. In addition,
Phthalates and Cumulative Risk Assessment:
The Task Ahead (NRC 2010) advocated
expansion of the scope of cumulative risk
assessments. Recognizing the complexity of
the Agency and assessment decisions, NRC
(2009) along with the SAB (2010) and the
BOSC (2009) recommended expanding the
use of decision-support sciences to determine
the risk assessment approach best suited to
inform each risk management situation.
In October 2010, Agency risk managers were
asked to identify key unmet risk assessment
needs in their decision-making at the Risk
Assessment Forum Human Health Risk
Assessment Colloquium. Three priority needs
were consistently identified by the diverse
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group of risk managers:
Making informed decisions about the
large number of compounds lacking
health assessments;
Considering cost-benefit and risk-risk
tradeoff for chemicals and effects
lacking quantitative estimates of the
incremental risk/benefit with changing
exposure; and
Considering the combined effects of
multiple chemical and nonchemical
stressors without cumulative
assessments of sufficiently wide
scope.
Illustrative Outputs/Products/Outcomes
Example 1: Tools to advance hazard
identification and efficiency of assessment
development
Outputs/Outcomes: To create more
comprehensive and transparent assessments
within a shorter timeframe, the Agency must
utilize informatics technologies to extract,
summarize and evaluate information from
the literature; store and manage data and
knowledge; and leverage existing databases
and data sources. This research project will
create tools to automate these activities.
In particular, this project will capture and
apply what is known about various disease
processes and chemical influences on disease
processes to inform hazard identification
and dose-response for specific chemical
assessments. These efforts will rely on
CSS and other research efforts to develop
chemically induced disease signatures or
fingerprints. HHRA will apply this information
on a case-by-case basis.
By providing risk assessors and decision-
makers with access to summarized, policy-
relevant scientific information that includes
data grading schemes and visualization
tools (e.g., data arrays), the time to review
the literature, integrate the evidence and
incorporate new knowledge into hazard and
risk assessments will decrease. Thus, this
project will streamline and facilitate basic
functions of risk assessment and management
in addition to moving HHRA toward the goal
of effective capturing, sharing, discussing and
debating of knowledge across the program.
Products: Tools to advance hazard
identification and efficiency of assessment
development.
Example 2: Dose-response characterization
Outputs/Outcomes: Although dose-
response analysis is an integral part of
human health risk assessment, it has been
decades since there have been any major
fundamental changes in how dose-response is
characterized. The combination of increased
demands on risk assessment and the recent
explosion of scientific knowledge presents
unique opportunities to modernize the practice
of dose-response analysis. This has been
echoed in several NRC recommendations to
advance dose-response analyses, particularly
in the areas of increasing the throughput
of chemical assessments, characterizing
uncertainty and variability, quantifying
incremental risk and addressing susceptibility.
During the October 2010 Human Health
Risk Assessment Colloquium, risk managers
indicated that advancing dose-response
analysis would be useful for their decision-
making needs.
HHRA is taking a systematic, step-wise
approach to addressing several decision-
maker needs for quantitative dose-response
characterization, including maximizing the
use of available data and methods, better
characterizing uncertainty and variability, and
developing a better understanding of how to
quantitatively address susceptibility. Thus, the
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focus of this effort is on products that facilitate
the translation of scientific concepts and data
specifically for use in dose-response analysis
while simultaneously utilizing and providing
feedback to the generation of scientific
concepts and data occurring in the other parts
of ORD and the greater scientific community.
Products: Dose-response characterization.
Example 3: Risk Assessment Training
and Experience (RATE) Program and the
application of Health and Environmental
Research Online (HERO)
Outputs/Outcomes: To support the
development of the IRIS assessments, ISAs,
MSAs, and PPRTVs, EPA also develops
capabilities within and external to EPA to
ensure full understanding and utilization of
science. These capabilities are developed by
advancing the methods used in assessment
development and through targeted risk
assessment training activities. Two examples
of HHRA products that contribute to these
capabilities are the development of the RATE
program and the application of HERO to
assessment products.
A critical need and problem that faces risk
assessment professionals throughout the
United States is having sufficient, up-to-date
information and training on state-of-the-art
principles and practices focusing on human
health and exposure. Additionally, during times
of scarce resources and the continuously
evolving knowledge in risk assessment,
HHRA and state environmental agency staff
members need comprehensive guidance
on how to understand and conduct risk
assessments, which, in turn, enables effective
and efficient implementation of their duties to
safeguard environmental and public health. In
response to these needs, EPA is developing
the RATE program. RATE is a comprehensive
risk assessment guidance and training course
that includes modules in the following areas:
fundamentals of risk assessment, hazard
identification, dose-response assessment,
exposure assessment, risk characterization,
communication and management.
HERO represents a transformational approach
in using the world's scientific literature in
the risk assessment process. HERO is a
comprehensive system to identify, compile,
characterize, analyze, synthesize and prioritize
scientific studies used in IRIS health hazard
and dose-response assessments. The HERO
database is a repository of the scientific
studies considered and used in assessments.
This evergreen database provides a system
for searching and importing new literature as
new studies are added continuously. HERO
facilitates complete and effective assessment
development by: employing advanced
searching, screening and classification
techniques using natural language processing
and innovative, efficient technologies
for intelligent information extraction and
synthesis; meeting the evolving needs of
scientists, collaborators and stakeholders
with agile development practices; involving
public participation in the assessment
development process by soliciting input; and
providing transparency and accessibility to the
stakeholders and public.
Products: HERO and RATE.
Impacts
Theme 4 products will increase the efficiency
and effectiveness of EPA risk assessment
programs by developing innovative
approaches and applying them to mine
databases and link information to users' needs
in a more effective manner. These products
also will contribute to the quality, timeliness
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and transparency of IRIS assessments, ISAs
and PPRTVs. Theme 4 products also will
provide additional and needed information
to risk managers and decision-makers,
leading to more informed decisions. For
example, presenting additional dose-response
approaches, particularly for noncancer
endpoints, will allow more comparisons of risk
relationships between and among chemical-
induced adverse health outcomes. Additionally,
using quantitative estimates of incremental
population risk, along with better quantitative
characterization analysis of uncertainty and
variability, will enable risk managers to more
effectively use HHRA products in the context
of formal decision analysis and in cost-benefit
analysis.
Conclusion
As a result of extensive input from
stakeholders during the planning phase, the
outputs of the HHRA research program are
very closely linked to their programmatic use
in hazardous site assessments and regulatory
considerations. For example, IRIS quantitative
cancer risk and noncancer reference values
are accorded priority consideration in OSWER
and regional site clean-up evaluations and
are a critical consideration in many regulatory
determinations by EPA's other programs. ISAs
constitute the scientific basis for review of the
NAAQS for criteria air pollutants. Rapid risk
assessments enable regional decision-makers
to respond quickly to emerging and crisis-
level issues. The HHRA research program's
models, methods and guidance outputs
generally serve as the standard for Agency
health hazard assessment practice and are
influential on national and international scales.
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Summary Tables of Outputs and Outcomes
The following tables list the expected outputs from the HHRA research program along
with the associated partner outcomes. Although each output is listed under a single
theme and science question, many of them serve to answer multiple questions. The
third column lists other science questions that an output addresses. It also lists other
ORD research programs that the output addresses and external organizations with
which the HHRA research program will collaborate.
Theme 1 - Integrated Risk Information Systems (IRIS)
Health Hazard and Dose-response Assessments
Science Question 1: What are the important human health effects of chemicals for priority Agency
decisions?
Outcomes: IRIS assessments are used widely by EPA's programs and regions, states, international
organizations and the general public as a scientific foundation for decision-making (e.g., site-specific
cleanups, rules, regulations and health policy determinations). They also directly support decisions by
the EPA Administrator under CERCLA, RCRA, TSCA, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe
Drinking Water Act, and other environmental statutes.
Outputs
Dichloromethane IRIS Assessment
Tetrahydrofuran IRIS Assessment
Halogenated platinum salts IRIS Assessment
Tetrachloroethylene IRIS Assessment
Ethylene oxide IRIS Assessment
Dioxin (non-cancer) IRIS Assessment
Methanol (non-cancer) IRIS Assessment
n-butanol IRIS Assessment
1,4-dioxane IRIS Assessment
Trimethylbenzene, 1,2,4- IRIS Assessment
Trimethylbenzene, 1,3,5- IRIS Assessment
Ammonia IRIS Assessment
Vanadium pentoxide IRIS Assessment
Biphenyl IRIS Assessment
PAH mixtures IRIS Assessment
Benzo(a)pyrene IRIS Assessment
Uranium IRIS Assessment
Acrylonitrile IRIS Assessment
t-Butanol IRIS Assessment
PCBs IRIS Assessment
Output Year
FY12
FY12
FY12
FY12
FY12
FY12
FY12
FY12
FY12
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
Relevance to other HHRA
Themes
Information from IRIS feeds into
Theme 3 CRTS outputs in quick
turn-around exposure and risk
assessments, which result in the
development of unique products
and advances in science, such
as reports, memos, fact sheets,
briefing, and presentations
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Outputs
RDX IRIS Assessment
Libby asbestos IRIS Assessment
Acetaldehyde IRIS Assessment
Diethylphthalate IRIS Assessment
1, 2-Dichlorobenzenes IRIS Assessment
1, 3-Dichlorobenzene IRIS Assessment
1, 4-dichlorobenzene IRIS Assessment
Statistical and dose-response technical support for
IRIS Chemical Managers
Updated Benchmark dose Modeling Software
(BMDS)
Standalone Software (e.g. CatReg)
Communicate with stakeholders on approaches to
recurring statistical and dose-response issues in
IRIS Assessments
Pharmacokinetic technical support for IRIS
Chemical Managers
PBPK model evaluation
Model scoping reports for new assessments
MOA scientific support for IRIS Chemical Managers
Communicate with stakeholders on approaches to
recurring MOA issues in IRIS Assessments (e.g.
memorandum and white papers)
Streamlined and more transparent IRIS
assessment documents
Enhanced search functions for IRIS database
Modernize computational platform for IRIS
database
Output Year
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY14
FY14
FY14
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
Relevance to other HHRA
Themes
Information from IRIS feeds
into Theme 3 outputs in quick
turn-around exposure and risk
assessments, which result in the
development of unique products
and advances in science, such
as reports, memos, fact sheets,
briefing, and presentations
Feeds into IRIS Assessments
Feeds into IRIS Assessments
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Theme 2 - Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) of
Criteria Air Pollutants
Science Question 2: What are the human health and environmental hazards of criteria air pollutants?
Outcomes: ISAs provide the scientific foundation forthe EPA Administrator's decision on each of the
primary and secondary NAAQS. Attainment of the NAAQS for these pollutants has been estimated by
the Office of Management and Budget and EPA to provide significant public health and environmental
benefits to the American public that far exceed the cost of control programs. The direct benefits of
EPA's NAAQS include the reduced incidence of a number of adverse human health impacts, including
premature death and disease, improvements in visibility and avoided damage to agricultural crops and
other vegetation.
Outputs
Workshop on PM
Final PM ISA
Scientific support related to PM NAAQS decision-
making
Workshop on CO
Final CO ISA
Scientific support related to CO NAAQS decision-
making
Final Ozone ISA
Scientific support related to Ozone NAAQS
decision-making
Workshop on Nox
Final NOx ISA (Health Criteria)
Scientific support related to NOx NAAQS decision-
making
Workshop on SOx
Final SOx ISA (Health Criteria)
Scientific support related to SOx NAAQS decision-
making
Workshop on Lead
Final Lead ISA
Scientific support related to Lead NAAQS
decision-making
Output Year
FY14
FY16
FY18
FY13
FY15
FY17
FY12
FY14
FY12
FY14
FY16
FY12
FY15
FY17
FY11
FY12
FY14
Relevance to other HHRA
Themes
Feeds into Multipollutant Science
Assessment (MSA)
Feeds into MSA
Feeds into MSA
Feeds into MSA
Feeds into MSA
Feeds into Theme 3 outputs
Outcomes: MSAs inform the EPA Administrator's decisions on the primary and secondary NAAQS, as
well as considerations for potential future multipollutant standards.
Workshop on NOx/SOx Eco ISA
Final NOx/SOx Eco ISA
MSA Workshop
Final Health MSA
MSA Workshop
Final Welfare MSA
FY13
FY16
FY11
FY16
FY13
FY15
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Theme 3 - Community Risk and Technical Support for
Exposure and Health Assessments
Science Question 3: What tools and analyses can ORD provide to help EPA programs and
communities assess exposure and rapidly scope the risks of emerging issues?
Outcomes: Feeds into regional or site specific decisions and into Programs exposure assessments;
Rapid assessment of potential exposures and risks allow program offices, regions, or EPA senior
management to make informed decisions in addressing emerging or unanticipated environmental
contaminants.
Outputs
Quick turn-around exposure and risk assessments,
which result in the development of unique products
and advances in science, such as reports, memos,
fact sheets, briefing, and presentations
Crisis-level technical support (conveyed in the
form of memorandum offering technical advise,
formal response letters, fact sheets, briefings, and
technical reports)
Applied technical support to inform risk-based
decision-making
Exposure Factors Handbook
Supporting documents and analyses
Output Year
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
Relevance to other HHRA
Themes
Information from these Theme
3 CRTS outputs are also used
to inform quick turn-around
exposure and risk assessments,
which result in the development
of unique products and advances
in science, such as reports,
memos, fact sheets, briefing, and
presentations.
Outcomes: RAF will provide a conduit for guidance to EPA's regions and programs; The toolbox
will allow scientists to more easily identify and access available exposure and risk characterization
resources necessary to perform assessments; Tools and Guidance developed under Project 3 are
used in exposure assessments and guidance developed by the Agency; Expo-Box will provide Agency
exposure assessors with a web-based compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization
tools. Comprehensive exposure assessment documents feed into exposure assessments conducted
by programs and regions; Development of chemical-specific, or chemical class-specific exposure
summaries may be used by Agency program and regional offices, environmental decision makers,
industry, and the public interested in support of human health risk assessments.
Expo-Box will synthesize and integrate exposure
assessment tools developed within HHRA (as well
as those developed in other parts of the Agency)
Comprehensive exposure assessment documents,
such as reports, memos, fact sheets, briefing, and
presentations
TBD
TBD
Feeds into work being conducted
by the Exposure Factors
Program, which is also under
HHRA Theme 3.
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Outputs
Output Year
Relevance to other HHRA
Themes
Outcomes: Feed into Exposure assessments conducted by programs and regions
Chemical exposure sections in IRIS toxicological
reviews
Communicating advances in chemical exposure
science to stakeholders
Report on dioxin-like compounds and releases
TBD
TBD
FY15
Feeds into Theme 1 IRIS
assessments
Outcomes: The development of PPRTVs enables the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
(OSWER) to make informed clean-up decisions regarding the screening of chemicals of concern,
conducting human health risk assessments, and evaluating alternative clean-up actions at federal and
state Superfund sites, which can lead to improvements in human and ecological health in the vicinity of
Superfund sites, as well as improved economic conditions and quality of life for nearby communities;
PPRTVs are also used by EPAs regions when making site specific clean-up decisions.
Final individual PPRTVs (50 per year)
Peer-reviewed ecology "white-papers" posted
atwww.epa.gov/erasc, technical assistance
responses (TARs) for human health issues
including: documented telephone "hotline" advice,
email responses, formal written responses,
distribution of existing NCEA publications,
technical and peer reviews of non-EPA toxicity
values.
Technical support on community-based cumulative
risk assessments
Chemical specific risk estimates (conveyed in
the form of memoranda offering technical advice,
formal response letters, fact sheets, briefings, and
technical reports)
Per annum
FY15
FY15
Outcomes: The qualitative and quantitative approaches to grouping and analyzing risks from chemical
and non-chemical stressors that are developed under this theme inform regional and local decision
makers. Developing methods teaching workshops will aid EPA programs and regional offices in
conducting and in evaluating opportunities to conduct cumulative risk assessments (CRAs). The
publication of case studies provides strategies and tools to address grouping and risk analytic strategies
for use by program offices in regulatory efforts (e.g. OW). The publication of the methods and models
developed will aid regulators in the integration of health effects data into risk assessment activities;
focus on vulnerability factors will allow for better characterization of variability and uncertainty in risk
assessments.
Methods and tools to improve regional and
programmatic cumulative risk assessments,
including a peer-reviewed publication in the
scientific literature on methods in FY15
Case studies published in the peer-review
scientific literature that characterize exposures to
(or outcomes related to) combined chemical and
non-chemical stressors
FY15
FY15
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Outputs
A publication in the peer-reviewed scientific
literature that describes methods and models for
evaluating associations between health outcomes
and chemical and non-chemical stressors (and
assessing interactions between stressors):
analyses of socio-economic status and other
vulnerability factors
Output Year
FY15
Relevance to other HHRA
Themes
Outcomes: Development of guidelines will provide defensible approaches for EPA program and
regional offices to conduct cumulative risk assessments. Publications will improve and disseminate
Cumulative Risk Assessment practice information needed for EPA programs and regional offices to
conduct cumulative risk assessments. Tools and guidance for cumulative risk assessment data analysis
will allow EPA programs and regions to organize information and estimate human health and ecological
risks. In concert with CSS, predictive/ computational models and toolboxes will provide data that can
be used to facilitate hazard identification and inform quantitative dose-response assessment and
associated uncertainties.
Internal Technical Report to support the Risk
Assessment Forum's Cumulative Risk Assessment
guidelines development
A peer-reviewed publication to improve cumulative
risk assessment practices
A web-based tool describing methods and
resources that support data analyses for program
office and regional cumulative risk assessments
Methods to Integrate CSS-based biomarker and
Cumulative Risk Outcomes
FY14
FY14
FY14
FY14
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Theme 4 - Modernizing Risk Assessment Methods
Science Question 4: How can ORD better meet the needs of decision makers by modernizing risk
assessment to incorporate recent scientific innovations, including molecular biology and computational
sciences?
Outcomes: Theme 4 outputs will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of EPA risk assessment
programs by developing innovative approaches and applying them to mine databases and link
information to users' needs in a more effective fashion. Using quantitative estimates of incremental
population risk, along with better quantitative characterization of uncertainty and variability, will enable
risk managers to more effectively use HHRA products in the context of formal decision analysis and
cost- benefit analysis.
Outputs
Natural language processing method to mine
chemical mode of action data from existing IRIS
assessments and the toxicology literature
Health hazard ontology and MOA knowledgebase
(part of the HERO System) of common chemical
modes of action to generate mode of action
pathway maps (knowledge maps) and to capture
the literature associated with modes of action
HERO NLP - used to develop automated exposure
response arrays from graphical and tabular data
sources in peer reviewed literature
Enroll HERO Systems into the ORD Federated
Data System (FROST)
Toolbox for health assessors to generate mode of
action pathway maps that demonstrate the size
and strength of associations graphically using the
MOA knowledgebase to graphically display what is
known about toxicity/disease pathways and modes
of action to inform weight of evidence analysis for
hazard characterization of assessments
Bioinformatics Toolbox that includes semi-
automated workflows for standardized
bioinformatics analyses using NIH, European
Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and other external
tools
Utilize HERO Systems to build chemical specific
exposure response arrays for adverse outcomes
to inform dose response analysis
Integration of CSS Dashboards, CSS and HHRA
Toolboxes, and HERO Systems into a standard
HHRA Risk Informatics Platform
Output Year
FY14
FY14
FY14
FY16
FY13
FY13
FY13
FY13
Relevance to other HHRA
Themes
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs in a
more transparent manner based
upon the state-of-the-science
approaches and methods to
meet programmatic needs.
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs in a
more transparent manner based
upon the state-of-the-science
approaches and methods to
meet programmatic needs.
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Outputs
Inventory of existing needs, data, and methods for
dose-response used in NCEA
Gaps analysis of unmet dose-response needs and
methods development for NCEA
Based on inventory and gaps analysis, provide
technical support of application of existing data
and methods in PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs
Framework and case studies for characterizing
uncertainty and variability in dose-response
analysis for cancer and non-cancer effects
Expert workshop coordinated by WHO seeking
external input on draft framework and case studies
Provide technical support for incorporating
approaches to characterizing uncertainty and
variability in PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs
Provide technical support for incorporating
approaches to characterizing uncertainty and
variability in cost-benefit analyses in various
programs
Output Year
FY14
FY14
FY14
FY15
FY14
FY15
FY15
Relevance to other HHRA
Themes
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs; Contributes to developing
more comprehensive cost-
benefit analyses that address
uncertainty and variability, and
benefits from reducing non-
cancer effects.
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs; Contributes to developing
more comprehensive cost-
benefit analyses that address
uncertainty and variability, and
benefits from reducing non-
cancer effects.
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs
Contributes to developing
more comprehensive cost-
benefit analyses that address
uncertainty and variability, and
benefits from reducing non-
cancer effects.
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Scoping key science areas where susceptibility
issues impact dose-response
FY13
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs.
Conducting state-of-the-science reviews on key
areas where susceptibility issues impact dose-
response
FY15
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs.
Provide technical support for incorporating
approaches to better incorporate susceptibility
issues in dose-response in PPRTVs, IRIS, and
ISAs
FY15
Contributes to developing
PPRTVs, IRIS, and ISAs based
on appropriate scientific data and
methods to meet programmatic
needs.
Materials and documentation associated with the
training modules (e.g., instructor notes, reading
packets, PowerPoint presentations) for classroom
and internet-based applications
FY15
Contributes to training of staff
that are developing PPRTVs,
IRIS, and ISAs based on state
of the science approaches and
methods to meet programmatic
needs.
Training on the fundamentals of scientific
disciplines that are relied upon for risk assessment
FY15
Application of HERO to HHRA assessments
FY15
Feeds into Theme 1
assessments; Theme 2 ISAs and
MSAs, and Theme 3 PPRTVs.
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Appendix A- Research Program Partners
and Stakeholders
EPA Research Program Partners
Regions 1-10
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER )
Office of Emergency Management (OEM)
Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST)
Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI)
Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery (ORCR)
Office of Program Management (OPM)
Office of Air and Radiation (OAR)
Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS)
Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ)
Office of Water (OW)
Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW)
Office of Science and Technology (OST)
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP)
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP)
Office Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT)
Office of Science Coordination and Policy (OSCP)
Office of Children's Health Protection (OCHP)
Office of the Science Advisor (OSA)
Office of Policy (OP)
National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE)
Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)
Office of Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)
Other Governmental Stakeholders
EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC)
Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC)
Science Advisory Board (SAB)
National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences & National Toxicology Program
(NIEHS&NTP)
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chemical Genomics Center
California's Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA), Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment
FDA National Center for Toxicological Research
Department of Defense
National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH)
Nongovernmental Organizations
Environmental Working Group (EWG)
National Resource Defense Council (NRDC)
Environmental Defense Fund (EOF)
Environmental Council of the States (ECOS)
Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC)
American Public Health Association (APHA)
American Chemistry Council (ACC)
Integrated Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) - Risk 21
This is a preliminary list, which will be updated regularly.
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Appendix B - IRIS Process
Assessment Development Process for New IRIS
Comprehensive Literature
Search and Data Call-In
Completed lit searches posted on
Web and announced in FRN
FRN requesting information about
studies not in lit search and new
research
tr
Complete Draft IRIS
Assessment
Internal Agency Review
Science Consultation on the
Draft Assessment with other
Federal Agencies and White
House Offices
EPA coordinates Interagency review
Internal Agency Review
and EPA Clearance of
Final Assessment
I
Revise Assessment
Address peer review and public
comments; prepare response to
comments document
do^cu
EPA-led Interagency
Science Discussion
Science feedback on final
assessment from other Federal
Agencies and White House offices
Independent Expert Peer
Review, Public Review and
Comment, and Public
Listening Session
Draft assessment and peer review
charge posted on Web site
Public comment period and Listening
Session announced in FRN
Peer review meeting announced in
'•RN
Post Final
Assessment on IRIS
Includes IRIS summary,
Toxicological Review and
response to comments
FINAL DRAFT
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Appendix C - ISA Process
Integrated Review Plan
Identify key policy-
relevant issues that will
frame the science, risk,
and policy assessments
Draft Final
Integrated Science Assessment:
Concise evaluation and synthesis of most
policy-relevant studies including
epidemiology, human clinical, animal
toxicology, human exposure, and
atmospheric science
1st Draft 2™ Draft Final
Policy Assessment
Staff views on scientific basis for
considering adequacy of current standard
and alternative policy options, drawing from
most policy-relevant science and
risk/exposure assessments
1st Draft
2™* Draft
Final
Rulemaking Notices:
Agency decision making
Interagency review
Proposed Rule
Public hearings/comment
Agency decision making
Interagency review
Final Rule
Risk/exposure Assessment Reports
Concise quantitative risk/exposure
assessments
Plan 1st Draft
2na Draft
Final
Public workshop
CASAC/public
consultation
Early guidance
from Agency
management
t
CASAC review and public
comment on all draft
science, risk/exposure, and
policy assessment
documents
t
Opportunity for
CASAC and public
comment on final
assessment
documents
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Appendix E - List of Definitions
Outputs are synthesized and/or translated from Products into the format needed by the End User.
Outputs should be defined, to the extent possible, by Partners/Stakeholders during Problem For-
mulation.
Product - A deliverable that results from a specific Research Project or Research Task. This may
include (not an exhaustive list) journal articles, reports, databases, test results, methods, models,
publications, technical support, workshops, best practices, patents, etc. These may require trans-
lation or synthesis for inclusion as an Output.
Partner/Stakeholder Outcome - The expected results, impacts, or consequence that a Partner or
Stakeholder will be able to accomplish due to ORD research.
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Board of Scientific Counselors Decision
Analysis: Supporting Environmental Decision
Makers Workshop Cincinnati, OH, March 30 -
April 1,2009.
ECOS-DoD Sustainability Work Group,
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