A Review of the Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends Program The Draft Detailed Program (1995) / Chapter Skim
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3 CAUSALITY
3 CAUSALITY
Pages 39-47
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From page 39... ...
An ecological index would be used to express the "global ecological health" of a site in terms of a single measure. Ecological risk assessment would be used to relate toxic substances and observed effects through the use of dose-response studies when possible.
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From page 40... ...
The cause-effect portion of the detailed plan should be framed in the context of ecological risk assessment, and the plan should use a relevant paradigm and terrn~nology based on the Environmental Protection Agency framework (e.g., EPA, 1992; or see Suter, 19931. This would Involve · Problem formulation.
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From page 41... ...
Determine EAL category STEP IV. Evaluate the answers to each step's screening questions and determine whether a contaminant problem exists Figure 3-1 The Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends Program's four-step approach to determining the relative potential of a contaminant's concentration to cause adverse biological effects.
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From page 42... ...
No method is perfect; however, the committee believes that an ecolog~cal-risk framework In combination with attempts to incorporate pnnciples of experimental design into observational studies will best fit the needs of the program. Additional National Research Council report~nclud~ng Issues in Risk Assessment, Managing Troubled Waters, Review of EPA 's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program: Interim Report, Review of EPA 's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program: Forests and Estuaries, Review of EPA 's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program: Surface Waters, and Ecological Knowledge and Environmental Problem-Solving: Concepts and Case Studies-provide guidance on these issues.
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From page 43... ...
Statistical Design and Data Collection Section 2 of the detailed plan is Intended to define the plan for data collection. However, the bioassessment portion of the plan is vague in its tenninology and does not detail explicitly what will be done, how it will be done, where it will be done, and when it will be done.
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From page 44... ...
However, although it is not included In the draft version of this plan, the committee believes that it would be valuable to include it In the final version because it could relate the proposed methods to successful past efforts to use toxic-substance monitoring to establish causeeffect relationships and source identification. Recent examples, such as the assignment of causes of deformities in birds in the Great Lakes (Tillitt et al., 1993)
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From page 45... ...
Partnerships with other federal agencies, whether external or within the Deparunent of the Interior, might be difficult as well. The committee recommends a stronger commitment to the modeling component of risk assessment and a clearer plan on how partnerships between the Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends Program and other agencies would be arranged.
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From page 46... ...
The use of external information is problematic because it can include different scales of measurement in both tune and space, poor quality of data and data collection, inappropriate measurement, and errors in data transfer. The committee would prefer a detailed plan on how this needed ~nfor~nation would be integrated.
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From page 47... ...
RECOMMENDATIONS 47 Recommendation 3-~: The cause-effect portion of the detailed plan should be framed In the context of ecological risk assessment and should use a relevant paradigm and terminology based on the EPA framework. Recommendation 3-2: To demonstrate causality, analytical procedures need to be used to distinguish between alterations resulting from changes in natural conditions, changes due to toxic substances, and other anthropogenic changes.
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