EPA Strengthens Key Scientific Database to Protect Public Health
Release date: 07/12/2011
Contact Information: Dale Kemery (News Media Only) kemery.dale@epa.gov 202-564-7839 202-564-4355
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced plans to improve its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program as part of an ongoing effort initiated in 2009 to strengthen the program. IRIS is a publicly available on-line database that provides high quality science-based human health assessments used to inform the agency’s decisions on protecting public health and the environment
“Decision makers rely on the IRIS program for accessible, science-based health assessments of environmental contaminants,” said Paul Anastas, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “Further strengthening the IRIS program is part of EPA’s commitment to continuous improvement and ensuring we use the best possible science to protect human health and the environment.”
The improvements announced today will make IRIS even stronger. All new IRIS assessment documents will be shorter, clearer and more visual, concise, and transparent. IRIS users can expect to see a reduced volume of text and increased clarity and transparency of data, methods, and decision criteria. Documents will be rigorously edited to eliminate inconsistencies and address redundancies and will include more graphical and tabular representations of data. Related discussions will also be consolidated into concise narrative descriptions.
To make the scientific rationale behind the assessments and toxicity values as transparent as possible, EPA will evaluate and describe the strengths and weaknesses of critical studies in a more uniform way. EPA will also indicate which criteria were most influential in evaluating the weight of the scientific evidence supporting its choice of toxicity values.
The latest actions are in direct response to recommendations received on April 8, 2011, from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
EPA is working closely with the agency’s Science Advisory Board on how to bring to bear its expertise on an ongoing basis to focus on the quality, transparency and scientific rigor of IRIS assessments and guide EPA’s response to the NAS recommendations.
EPA will also create a new peer consultation step early in the development of major IRIS assessments to enhance the input of the scientific community as assessments are designed.
In 2009, EPA implemented an improved IRIS process to ensure scientific quality, integrity, transparency, and the timeliness of EPA’s efforts to manage chemical risks.
The process now includes a streamlined review schedule, ensuring that the majority of assessments will be finalized within two years of their start date, opportunities for input from EPA scientists, federal agency reviewers, and the public, and greater transparency by making the scientific studies used to develop assessments available through the Health and Environmental Research Online database.
The IRIS database includes more than 540 chemical substances, containing crucial information about how they impact human health. Combined with exposure information, governments and private entities use IRIS to help characterize the public health risks of chemical substances, thereby supporting risk management decisions designed to protect public health.
Original Link: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/A3FCD60838197067852578CB00666C4D
More information about IRIS: http://www.epa.gov/iris/
Information about the IRIS process: http://www.epa.gov/iris/process.htm
THE NORTHPORT PROJECT 
Letter sent to ATSDR:
The ATSDR performed a Human Health Consultation on Northport, WA. It was published on May 19, 2005. The Consultation was in regards to the LeRoi Smelter site located in Northport, WA, in Stevens County. As I am sure you are aware, the ATSDR faced major criticism in 2005 by the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight. The Subcommittee found that the ATSDR relied on scientifically flawed data in may of their consultations from 2005 and before. The Subcommittee also found that the ATSDR was understaffed and lacked the budget to keep up with the hundreds of investigations they were faced with. The lack of employees, and their lack of budget was said to be the reason they became overwhelmed and used scientifically flawed data, which they then passed along to other federal agencies, such as the EPA and the DOH, and then mislead these agencies to believe humans living in, and exposed to toxic areas were safe, and not in danger.
If anyone at the ATSDR was to reexamine the Health Consultation that was done regarding the residents of Northport, WA in 2005 it is horribly clear that they received a major injustice by the poor work of the ATSDR employees responsible for the investigation. The injustices include death, diseases, and chronic illnesses that could possibly have been prevented if the ATSDR had done their job correctly.
One more question, why has the ATSDR not participated in a current Health Consultation of Northport, WA since the EPA currently finished their RI/FS and are conducting a Human Health Assessment of the area.
I simply ask the 2005 Northport Health Consultation be reviewed by a subcommittee. It is very clear that the ATSDR did a horrible injustice to the people of Northport, WA with their false reporting.
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