New EPA IRIS Study Agenda Increases Focus On 'Background' Chemicals

摘要

EPA's latest agenda for its influential Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessments includes an increasing number of "background" chemicals or metals that are produced by industrial processes or pollution but also exist naturally in the environment or in the human body, increasing the agency's focus on reviewing such substances. Close to one-third of the IRIS assessments in progress and the chemicals newly prioritized for the program to take up in the next several years are chemicals with these background issues, according to a recent presentation Lynn Flowers, associate director for health at EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), gave Feb. 10 in Washington, D.C. at the annual winter ToxForum meeting. "It's quite a list, so you can see why we're interested in this," she said. "Only one of these, methanol, has been completed recently."