National Academies Press: OpenBook

Issues in Risk Assessment (1993)

Chapter: CASE STUDY 1: TRIBUTYLTIN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

« Previous: MICHAEL SLIMAK: U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ACTIVITIES IN ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT
Suggested Citation:"CASE STUDY 1: TRIBUTYLTIN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES." National Research Council. 1993. Issues in Risk Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2078.
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Appendix E
Case Studies and Commentaries

CASE STUDY 1:Tributyltin Risk Management In the United States

R. J. Huggett and M. A. Unger, Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences

Tributyltin (TBT) is a chemical with a variety of biocidal applications, including use as an antifouling agent in boat paints (Blunden and Chapman, 1982). Biological effects of TBT on marine and estuarine organisms and the concentrations of TBT that induce them vary widely among species (Huggett et al., 1992). A water concentration of 1,000 ng/L (1 part per billion) is lethal to larvae of some species, and nonlethal effects have been observed at concentrations as low as 2 ng/L (2 parts per trillion, ppt). Both laboratory and field studies of toxicity were initially hampered by difficulties in measuring the low concentrations that were toxic to some organisms.

Adverse effects on nontarget organisms, including commercially valuable species of shellfish, were observed in Europe in the early 1980s (Alzieu, 1986; Abel et al., 1986). Abnormal shell growth was documented in Crassostrea gigas (European oyster) and linked through laboratory experiments to TBT leached from antifouling paints. That connection led to restrictive regulations in France (in 1982) and Great Britain (in 1985 and 1987). In the United States, concentrations exceeding those determined experimentally to be effective have been found in many

Suggested Citation:"CASE STUDY 1: TRIBUTYLTIN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES." National Research Council. 1993. Issues in Risk Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2078.
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The scientific basis, inference assumptions, regulatory uses, and research needs in risk assessment are considered in this two-part volume.

The first part, Use of Maximum Tolerated Dose in Animal Bioassays for Carcinogenicity, focuses on whether the maximum tolerated dose should continue to be used in carcinogenesis bioassays. The committee considers several options for modifying current bioassay procedures.

The second part, Two-Stage Models of Carcinogenesis, stems from efforts to identify improved means of cancer risk assessment that have resulted in the development of a mathematical dose-response model based on a paradigm for the biologic phenomena thought to be associated with carcinogenesis.

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