EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office Request for Nominations of Experts for the SAB Trichloroethylene (TCE) Review Panel

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice request for nominations.

SUMMARY:

The Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is requesting public nominations of experts to form an SAB Ad Hoc Panel to review EPA's health effects assessment for Trichloroethylene (TCE).

DATES:

Nominations should be submitted by November 12, 2009 per instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Any member of the public wishing further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact Dr. Marc Rigas, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 343-9978; by fax at (202) 233-0643; or via e-mail at rigas.marc@epa.gov. General information concerning the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found on the EPA SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background: EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is an electronic database containing descriptive and quantitative toxicological information on human health effects that may result from chronic exposure to various substances in the environment. This information supports human health risk assessments, and includes hazard identification and dose-response data and derivations of oral reference doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference concentrations (RfCs) for noncancer effects and oral slope factors and oral and inhalation unit risks for cancer effects. IRIS is prepared and maintained by EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the Office of Research and Development (ORD). ORD has developed a draft IRIS Toxicological Assessment for TCE and has requested that the SAB conduct a review of its draft Assessment.

In 2001, ORD developed a draft IRIS Toxicological Assessment for TCE, which was released for public comment and external peer review. In 2002, the Environmental Health Committee of the SAB reviewed the draft TCE Assessment and made several recommendations to strengthen the dose-response assessment. In 2004, in preparation for development of a new TCE assessment, the National Research Council (NRC) was requested to provide a scientific consultation on key scientific issues related to assessing the human health risks of TCE, including those relevant to hazard characterization/mode of action, physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling, and dose-response assessment. ORD has taken the recommendations and conclusions included in the NRC's report, which was released in 2006, into account as it developed a new revised draft IRIS Toxicological Assessment for TCE. ORD has requested that the SAB conduct a review of its revised draft Assessment.

The SAB was established by 42 U.S.C. 4365 to provide independent scientific and technical advice, consultation and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the technical basis for Agency positions and regulations. The SAB Staff Office will form an expert Panel to review ORD's draft IRIS Toxicological Assessment for TCE. The SAB Panel will comply with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and all appropriate SAB procedural policies. Upon completion, the Panel's report will be submitted to the chartered SAB for final approval for transmittal to the EPA Administrator. The TCE Review Panel is being asked to comment on the scientific soundness of the Agency's draft IRIS review.

Availability of the Review Materials: The EPA draft IRIS Toxicological Review document to be reviewed by the TCE Review Panel will be made available by ORD at the following URL http://epa.gov/ncea (under “Recent Additions”). For questions concerning the review materials, please contact Dr. Weihsueh Chiu, at (703) 347-8607, or chiu.weihsueh@epa.gov.

Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is requesting nominations of nationally recognized experts with expertise in one or more of the following areas, particularly with respect to TCE and its metabolites: toxicokinetics; toxicology; carcinogenic modes of action; physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling; epidemiology; statistics; dose-response modeling; and risk assessment.

Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested person or organization may nominate qualified individuals for possible service on the TCE Review Panel in the areas of expertise described above. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format (which is preferred over hard copy) following the instructions for “Nominating Experts to Advisory Panels and Ad Hoc Committees Being Formed” provided on the SAB Web site. The instructions can be accessed through the “Nomination of Experts” link on the blue navigational bar on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. To receive full consideration, nominations should include all of the information requested.

EPA's SAB Staff Office requests: contact information about the person making the nomination; contact information about the nominee; the disciplinary and specific areas of expertise of the nominee; the nominee's curriculum vita; sources of recent grants and/or contracts; and a biographical sketch of the nominee indicating current position, educational background, research activities, and recent service on other national advisory committees or national professional organizations.

Persons having questions about the nomination procedures, or who are unable to submit nominations through the SAB Web site, should contact Dr. Marc Rigas, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than November 12, 2009. EPA values and welcomes diversity. In an effort to obtain nominations of diverse candidates, EPA encourages nominations of women and men of all racial and ethnic groups.

The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of nominations. The names and biosketches of qualified nominees identified by respondents to the Federal Register notice and additional experts identified by the SAB Staff will be posted on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on this “Short List” of candidates will be accepted for 21 calendar days. The public will be requested to provide relevant information or other documentation on nominees that the SAB Staff Office should consider in evaluating candidates.

For the EPA SAB Staff Office, a balanced subcommittee or review panel includes candidates who possess the necessary domains of knowledge, the relevant scientific perspectives (which, among other factors, can be influenced by work history and affiliation), and the collective breadth of experience to adequately address the charge. In establishing the TCE Review Panel, the SAB Staff Office will consider public comments on the “Short List” of candidates, information provided by the candidates themselves, and background information independently gathered by the SAB Staff Office. Selection criteria to be used for Panel membership include: (a) Scientific and/or technical expertise, knowledge, and experience (primary factors); (b) availability and willingness to serve; (c) absence of financial conflicts of interest; (d) absence of an appearance of a lack of impartiality; and (e) skills working in committees, subcommittees and advisory panels; and, for the Panel as a whole, (f) diversity of, and balance among scientific expertise and viewpoints.

The SAB Staff Office's evaluation of an absence of financial conflicts of interest will include a review of the “Confidential Financial Disclosure Form for Special Government Employees Serving on Federal Advisory Committees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency” (EPA Form 3110-48). This confidential form allows Government officials to determine whether there is a statutory conflict between that person's public responsibilities (which includes membership on an EPA Federal advisory committee) and private interests and activities, or the appearance of a lack of impartiality, as defined by Federal regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded from the following URL address http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/epaform3110-48.pdf.

The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects subcommittees and review panels is described in the following document: Overview of the Panel Formation Process at the Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board (EPA-SAB-EC-02-010), which is posted on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf.