Eleventh Interim Report of the Subcommittee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON ACUTE EXPOSURE GUIDELINE LEVELS
DANIEL KREWSKI (Chair),
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
EDWARD C.BISHOP,
Parsons Corporation, Pasadena, CA
JAMES V.BRUCKNER,
University of Georgia, Athens
DAVID P.KELLY,
Dupont Company, Newark, DE
KANNAN KRISHNAN,
University of Montréal, Montréal, Quebec
STEPHEN U.LESTER,
Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, Falls Church, VA
JUDITH MACGREGOR,
Toxicology Consulting Services, Arnold, MD
PATRICIA M. McGINNIS,
Syracuse Research Corporation, Ft. Washington, PA
FRANZ OESCH,
University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
RICHARD B.SCHLESINGER,
Pace University, New York, NY
CALVIN C.WILLHITE,
State of California, Berkeley
FREDERIK A.DE WOLFF,
Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
Staff
KULBIR S.BAKSHI, Project Director
KELLY CLARK, Editor
AIDA C.NEEL, Administrative Assistant
Sponsor
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
COMMITTEE ON TOXICOLOGY
BAILUS WALKER, JR. (Chair),
Howard University Medical Center and American Public Health Association, Washington, DC
MELVIN E.ANDERSEN,
CIIT-Centers for Health Research, Research Triangle, Park, NC
EDWARD C.BISHOP,
Parsons Corporation, Pasadena, CA
GARY P.CARLSON,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
JANICE E.CHAMBERS,
Mississippi State University, Mississippi State
LEONARD CHIAZZE, JR.,
Georgetown University, Washington, DC
JUDITH A.GRAHAM,
American Chemistry Council, Arlington, VA
SIDNEY GREEN,
Howard University, Washington, DC
MERYL KAROL,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
STEPHEN U.LESTER,
Center for Health Environment and Justice, Falls Church, VA
DAVID H.MOORE,
Battelle Memorial Institute, Bel Air, MD
CALVIN C.WILLHITE,
Department of Toxic Substances, State of California, Berkeley
GERALD N.WOGAN,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Staff
KULBIR S.BAKSHI, Program Director
ROBERTA M.WEDGE, Senior Program Officer for Risk Analysis
SUSAN N.J.MARTEL, Senior Program Officer
ELLEN K.MANTUS, Senior Program Officer
KELLY CLARK, Assistant Editor
AIDA NEEL, Administrative Assistant
TAMARA DAWSON, Program Assistant
BOARD ON ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND TOXICOLOGY1
Members
JONATHAN M.SAMET (Chair),
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
DAVID ALLEN,
University of Texas, Austin
THOMAS BURKE,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
JUDITH C.CHOW,
Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV
COSTEL D.DENSON,
University of Delaware, Newark
E.DONALD ELLIOTT,
Wilkie, Farr & Galagher, LLP, Washington, DC
CHRISTOPHER B.FIELD,
Carnegie Institute of Washington, Stanford, CA
WILLIAM H.GLAZE,
Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton
SHERRI W.GOODMAN,
Center for Naval Analyses, Alexandria, VA
DANIEL S.GREENBAUM,
Health Effects Institute, Cambridge, MA
ROGENE HENDERSON,
Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM
CAROL HENRY,
American Chemistry Council, Arlington, VA
ROBERT HUGGETT,
Michigan State University, East Lansing
BARRY L.JOHNSON,
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
JAMES H.JOHNSON,
Howard University, Washington, DC
JUDITH L.MEYER,
University of Georgia, Athens
PATRICK Y.O’BRIEN,
ChevronTexaco Energy Technology Company, Richmond, CA
DOROTHY E.PATTON,
International Life Sciences Institute, Washington, DC
STEWARD T.A.PICKETT,
Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY
ARMISTEAD G.RUSSELL,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
LOUISE M.RYAN,
Harvard University, Boston, MA
KIRK SMITH,
University of California, Berkeley
LISA SPEER,
Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY
G.DAVID TILMAN,
University of Minnesota, St. Paul
CHRIS G.WHIPPLE,
Environ Incorporated, Emeryville, CA
LAUREN A.ZEISE,
California Environmental Protection Agency, Oakland, CA
Senior Staff
JAMES J.REISA, Director
DAVID J.POLICANSKY, Scholar
RAYMOND A.WASSEL, Senior Program Officer for Environmental Sciences and Engineering
KULBIR BAKSHI, Senior Program Officer for Toxicology
ROBERTA M.WEDGE, Senior Program Officer for Risk Analysis
K.JOHN HOLMES, Senior Program Officer
SUSAN N.J.MARTEL, Senior Program Officer
SUZANNE VAN DRUNICK, Senior Program Officer
EILEEN N.ABT, Senior Program Officer
ELLEN K.MANTUS, Senior Program Officer
RUTH E.CROSSGROVE, Senior Editor
PREFACE
Extremely hazardous substances (EHSs)1 can be released accidentally as a result of chemical spills, industrial explosions, fires, or accidents involving railroad cars or trucks transporting EHSs, or intentionally through terrorist activities. Workers and residents in communities surrounding industrial facilities where EHSs are manufactured, used, or stored and in communities along the nation’s railways and highways are potentially at risk of being exposed to airborne EHSs during accidental and intentional releases. Pursuant to the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified approximately 400 EHSs on the basis of acute lethality data in rodents.
The National Advisory Committee (NAC) on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances has developed acute exposure guideline levels (AEGLs) for approximately 120 EHSs to date. In 1998, EPA and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) requested that the National Research Council (NRC) independently review the AEGLs developed by the NAC. In response to that request, the NRC organized within its Committee on Toxicology the Subcommittee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. The NAC’s Standing Operating Procedures for Developing AEGLs for Airborne Chemicals was reviewed by the subcommittee and published in May 2001. That report provides step-by-step guidance for the derivation of AEGLs for hazardous chemicals. In December 2000, the subcommittee’s first report, Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Selected Airborne Chemicals, Volume 1, was published by the NRC; volumes 2, 3, and 4 in that series were published in 2002, 2003, and 2004 respectively.
The subcommittee meets two to three times each calendar year. At those meetings, the subcommittee hears presentations from the NAC staff and its contractor—the Oak Ridge National Laboratory—on draft AEGL documents. At some meetings, the subcommittee also hears presentations from NAC’s collaborators from other countries, such as Germany. The subcommittee provides comments and recommendations on those documents to NAC in its interim reports, and the NAC uses those comments to make revisions. The revised reports are presented by the NAC to the subcommittee at subsequent meetings until the subcommittee concurs with the final draft documents. The revised reports are then published as appendixes in the subcommittee’s reports.
The present report is the subcommittee’s eleventh interim report. It summarizes the subcommittee’s conclusions and recommendations for improving NAC’s AEGL documents for 11 chemicals: Chloromethyl methyl ether, jet fuel 8, tetranitromethane, carbon monoxide, acetone cyanohydrin, monochloroacetic acid, phosphorus trichloride, phosphorus oxychloride, fluorine, acrylic acid, cis-1–2-dichloroethylene, and trans-1, 2-dichloroethylene.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as
possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Sam Kacew (University of Ottawa), Deepak Bhalla (Wayne State University), and Sidney Green (Howard University).
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by: Rakesh Dixit of Merck Research Laboratories. Appointed by the NRC, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
The subcommittee gratefully acknowledges the valuable assistance provided by the following people: Ernest Falke and Paul Tobin (both from EPA); Cheryl Bast, Sylvia Milanez, Sylvia Talmage, and Robert Young (all from Oak Ridge National Laboratory). Aida Neel was the program assistant and Kelly Clark was the editor. We are grateful to James J.Reisa, director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, for his helpful guidance. The subcommittee particularly acknowledges Kulbir Bakshi, project director for the subcommittee, for bringing the report to completion. Finally, we would like to thank all members of the subcommittee for their expertise and dedicated effort throughout the development of this report.
Daniel Krewski, Chair
Subcommittee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels
Bailus Walker, Chair
Committee on Toxicology