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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
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Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on
Acute Exposure Guideline Levels

Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels

Committee on Toxicology

Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology

Division on Earth and Life Studies

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
                         OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.

www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS   500 Fifth Street, NW   Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This project was supported by Contract No. W81K04-11-D-0017 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Defense. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

This report is available online from The National Academies Press at http://www.nap.edu.

Copyright 2013 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
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COMMITTEE ON ACUTE EXPOSURE GUIDELINE LEVELS

Members

EDWARD C. BISHOP (Chair), HDR Engineering, Inc., Omaha, NE

DEEPAK K. BHALLA, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

LUNG CHI CHEN, New York University, Tuxedo, NY

KATHLEEN L. GABRIELSON, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

GUNNAR JOHANSON, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

MARGARET M. MACDONELL, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL

DAVID A. MACYS, U.S. Department of the Navy (retired), Oak Harbor, WA

MARIA T. MORANDI, University of Montana, Missoula, MT

LEENA A. NYLANDER-FRENCH, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

FRANZ OESCH, University of Mainz (retired), Mainz, Germany

NU-MAY RUBY REED, California Environmental Protection Agency (retired), Sacramento, CA

GEORGE C. RODGERS, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

ROBERT SNYDER, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

KENNETH STILL, Portland State University, Portland, OR

Staff

SUSAN N.J. MARTEL, Project Director

TAMARA DAWSON, Program Associate

MIRSADA KARALIC-LONCAREVIC, Manager, Technical Information Center

RADIAH ROSE, Manager, Editorial Projects

Sponsors

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
×

COMMITTEE ON TOXICOLOGY

Members

GARY P. CARLSON (Chair), Purdue University (retired), West Lafayette, IN

LAWRENCE S. BETTS, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA

DEEPAK K. BHALLA, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

DEBORAH A. CORY-SLECHTA, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY

MARY E. DAVIS, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

DAVID C. DORMAN, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

MARGARET M. MACDONELL, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL

IVAN RUSYN, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

KENNETH STILL, Portland State University, Portland, OR

JOYCE S. TSUJI, Exponent, Inc., Bellevue, WA

Staff

SUSAN N.J. MARTEL, Senior Program Officer for Toxicology

MIRSADA KARALIC-LONCAREVIC, Manager, Technical Information Center

RADIAH ROSE, Manager, Editorial Projects

TAMARA DAWSON, Program Associate

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
×

BOARD ON ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND TOXICOLOGY1

Members

ROGENE F. HENDERSON (Chair), Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM

PRAVEEN AMAR, Clean Air Task Force, Boston, MA

MICHAEL J. BRADLEY, M.J. Bradley & Associates, Concord, MA

JONATHAN Z. CANNON, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

GAIL CHARNLEY, HealthRisk Strategies, Washington, DC

FRANK W. DAVIS, University of California, Santa Barbara

CHARLES T. DRISCOLL, JR., Syracuse University, New York

LYNN R. GOLDMAN, George Washington University, Washington, DC

LINDA E. GREER, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC

WILLIAM E. HALPERIN, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark

STEVEN P. HAMBURG, Environmental Defense Fund, New York, NY

ROBERT A. HIATT, University of California, San Francisco

PHILIP K. HOPKE, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY

SAMUEL KACEW, University of Ottawa, Ontario

H. SCOTT MATTHEWS, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

THOMAS E. MCKONE, University of California, Berkeley

TERRY L. MEDLEY, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, DE

JANA MILFORD, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder

RICHARD L. POIROT, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, Waterbury

MARK A. RATNER, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

KATHRYN G. SESSIONS, Health and Environmental Funders Network, Bethesda, MD

JOYCE S. TSUJI, Exponent Environmental Group, Bellevue, WA

Senior Staff

JAMES J. REISA, Director

DAVID J. POLICANSKY, Scholar

RAYMOND A. WASSEL, Senior Program Officer for Environmental Studies

ELLEN K. MANTUS, Senior Program Officer for Risk Analysis

SUSAN N.J. MARTEL, Senior Program Officer for Toxicology

EILEEN N. ABT, Senior Program Officer

MIRSADA KARALIC-LONCAREVIC, Manager, Technical Information Center

RADIAH ROSE, Manager, Editorial Projects

__________________________________

1 This study was planned, overseen, and supported by the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
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Preface

Extremely hazardous substances (EHSs)2 can be released accidentally as a result of chemical spills, industrial explosions, fires, or accidents involving railroad cars or trucks transporting EHSs, or they can be released intentionally through terrorist activities. These substances can also be released by improper storage or handling. 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 or 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.

As part of its efforts to develop acute exposure guideline levels for EHSs, EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in 1991 requested that the National Research Council (NRC) develop guidelines for establishing such levels. In response to that request, the NRC published Guidelines for Developing Community Emergency Exposure Levels for Hazardous Substances in 1993. Subsequently, Standing Operating Procedures for Developing Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances was published in 2001. It provided updated procedures, methods, and other guidelines used by the National Advisory Committee (NAC) on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances and the NRC Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) in considering acute adverse health effects to develop AEGL values.

Using the 1993 and 2001 NRC guideline reports, the NAC—consisting of members from EPA, the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Transportation (DOT), other federal and state governments, the chemical industry, academia, and other organizations from the private sector—has developed AEGLs for approximately 270 EHSs.

In 1998, EPA and DOD requested that the NRC independently review the AEGLs developed by NAC. In response to that request, the NRC organized within its Committee on Toxicology the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels, which prepared this report.

At its meetings, the committee hears presentations from EPA staff and its contractor, SRC, Inc., on draft AEGL documents. The committee provides comments and recommendations on those documents in its interim reports, and EPA and SRC, Inc., use those comments to make revisions. The revised documents are presented by SRC, Inc., to the committee at subsequent meetings until the committee concurs with the final draft documents. The revised documents are then published as appendixes in the committee’s reports.

The present report is the committee’s twenty-second interim report. It summarizes the committee’s conclusions and recommendations for improving AEGL documents for the following chemicals: acrylonitrile, allyl alcohol, boron tribromide, bromine chloride, cadmium, carbon tetrachloride, carbonyl fluoride, cyanide salts, diketene, ethyl benzene, germane, selected halogen fluorides (chlorine pentafluoride, bromine pentafluoride, and bromine trifluoride), hexafluoropropylene, hydrogen bromide

__________________________________

2 As defined pursuant to the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
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and hydrogen iodide, methacrylaldehyde, oxygen difluoride, pentaborane, stibine, styrene, tellurium hexafluoride, tetrafluoroethylene, thionyl chloride, and toluene.

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 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 ensuring 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: A. Wallace Hayes (Harvard School of Public Health), Sam Kacew (University of Ottawa), and Judith Zelikoff (New York University School of Medicine). 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 Robert Goyer (University of Western Ontario [retired]). 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 author committee and the NRC.

The committee gratefully acknowledges the valuable assistance provided by the following individuals: Iris Camacho and Ernest Falke (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and Heather Carlson-Lynch, Gary Diamond, Lisa Ingerman, and Julie Klotzbach (SRC, Inc.).

The committee acknowledges Susan Martel, project director, for her work in this project. Other staff members who contributed to this effort are James Reisa, (director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology), Mirsada Karalic-Loncarevic (manager of the Technical Information Center), Radiah Rose (manager of editorial projects), and Tamara Dawson (senior program assistant). Finally, we would like to thank all members of the committee for their expertise and dedicated effort throughout the development of this report.

Edward C. Bishop, Chair
Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18432.
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In 1991, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide technical guidance for establishing community emergency exposure levels for extremely hazardous substances (EHSs) pursuant to the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. As a result the NRC published Guidelines for Developing Community Emergency Exposure Levels for Hazardous Substances in 1993 and Standing Operating Procedures for Developing Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances in 2001; providing updated procedures, methods, and other guidelines used by the National Advisory Committee (NAC) on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) for hazardous substances for assessing acute adverse health effects. Stemming from this report the NAC has developed AEGLs for at least 270 EHSs.

There are currently three AEGLs: AEGL-1, AEGL-2, and AEGL-3. AEGL-1 is the airborne concentration of a substance above which it is predicted that the general population could experience notable discomfort, irritation, or certain asymptomatic nonsensory effects. These effects are not disabling and are transient and reversible once exposure is stopped. AEGL-2 is the airborne concentration (of a substance above which it is predicted that the general population could experience irreversible, long-lasting adverse health effects or an impaired ability to escape. AEGL-3 is the airborne concentration of a substance above which it is predicted that the general population could experience life threatening health effects or death.

On April 22-24 2013, the NRC-established Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels 2013 met to review AEGL documents approved by the NAC. The committee members were selected for their expertise in toxicology, medicine, industrial hygiene, biostatistics, and risk assessment. Twenty-second Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels presents a review of AEGLs for various chemicals including acrylonitrile, halogen fluorides, tellurium hexafluoride, and thionyl chloride.

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