Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches for IRIS Assessments

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION:

Announcement of availability of literature searches for IRIS assessments; request for information.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of literature searches for cobalt (CASRN 7440-48-4) and inorganic cobalt compounds, vanadium pentoxide (CASRN 1314-62-1), vinyl acetate (CASRN 108-05-4), and Libby Amphibole asbestos. EPA is requesting scientific information on health effects that may result from exposure to these chemical substances. EPA's IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that may result from exposure to specific chemical substances found in the environment.

DATES:

EPA will accept information related to the specific substances included herein as well as any other compounds being assessed by the IRIS Program. Please submit any information in accordance with the instructions provided below.

ADDRESSES:

Please submit relevant scientific information identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-ORD-2007-0664, online at http://www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred method); by e-mail to ord.docket@epa.gov; mailed to Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket (Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; or by hand delivery or courier to EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. Information on a disk or CD-ROM should be formatted in Word or as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption, and may be mailed to the mailing address above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For information on the IRIS program, contact Karen Hammerstrom, IRIS Program Deputy Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment, (mail code: 8601D), Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (703) 347-8642, facsimile: (703) 347-8689; or e-mail: FRNquestions@epa.gov.

For general questions about access to IRIS, or the content of IRIS, please call the IRIS Hotline at (202) 566-1676 or send electronic mail inquiries to hotline.iris@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

EPA's IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that may result from exposure to specific chemical substances found in the environment. Through the IRIS Program, EPA provides the highest quality science-based human health assessments to support the Agency's regulatory activities. The IRIS database contains information for more than 540 chemical substances that can be used to support 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 as well as assessments of potential carcinogenic effects resulting from chronic exposure. Combined with specific exposure information, government and private entities use IRIS to help characterize public health risks of chemical substances in a site-specific situation and thereby support risk management decisions designed to protect public health.

This data call-in is a step in the IRIS process. As literature searches are completed, the results will be posted on the IRIS Web site ( http://www.epa.gov/iris ). The public is invited to review the literature search results and submit additional information to EPA.

Request for Public Involvement in IRIS Assessments

EPA is soliciting public involvement in assessments on the IRIS agenda. While EPA conducts a thorough literature search for each chemical substance, there may be unpublished studies or other primary technical sources that are not available through the open literature. EPA would appreciate receiving scientific information from the public during the information gathering stage for the assessments listed in this notice or any other assessments on the IRIS agenda. Interested persons may provide scientific analyses, studies, and other pertinent scientific information. While EPA is primarily soliciting information on new assessments, the public may submit information on any chemical substance at any time.

EPA is announcing the availability of additional literature searches on the IRIS Web site ( http://www.epa.gov/iris ). The public is invited to review the literature search results and submit additional information to EPA. Literature searches are now available for cobalt (CAS No. 7440-48-4) and inorganic cobalt compounds, vanadium pentoxide (CASRN 1314-62-1), vinyl aceate (108-05-4), and Libby Amphibole asbestos at http://www.epa.gov/iris under “IRIS Agenda and Literature Searches.” The literature search for Libby Amphibole asbestos encompasses publicly available and peer reviewed literature that is specific to Libby Amphibole asbestos. EPA would appreciate receiving scientific information from the public that is specific to Libby Amphibole asbestos, rather than general asbestos, in an effort to support the development of an IRIS human health assessment specific for Libby Amphibole asbestos (CASRN 1332-21-4). Instructions on how to submit information are provided below under General Information.

General Information

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2007-0664 by one of the following methods:

• http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• E-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov.
• Fax: 202-566-1753.
• Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket, (Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-566-1752.
• Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center's Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is 202-566-1744. Such deliveries are only accepted during the docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information. If you provide information by mail or hand delivery, please submit one unbound original with pages numbered consecutively, and three copies of the comments. For attachments, provide an index, number pages consecutively with the main text, and submit an unbound original and three copies.

Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2007-0664. It is EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in the public docket without change and to make the comments available online at http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided, unless a comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an “anonymous access” system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov,, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.

Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA Headquarters Docket Center.