Environmental Protection Agency s Science

William Randall Seeker received his Ph.D. in engineering (nuclear and chemical) from Kansas State University. He is the senior vice president and a member of the board of directors of Energy and Environmental Research Corporation. Dr. Seeker has extensive experience in the use of thermal treatment technologies and environmental control systems for managing hazardous waste. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Environmental Protection Agency s Science Advisory Board. Dr. Seeker has authored over 100 technical papers on various aspects of technology and environment subjects. 

In the early 1980 s, Gough directed OTA s congressionally mandated oversight of Executive Branch studies of cancer in veterans of atom bomb tests and of the health of Vietnam veterans. He chaired a Department of Veterans Affairs advisory committee (1987-90) about the possible health effects of herbicides used in Vietnam and the Department of Health and Human Services committee (1990-95) that advises the United States Air Force study of the health of Air Force personnel who sprayed Agent Orange in Vietnam. In September 2000, he accepted reappointment to the DHHS committee. In 1995, he served on the Environmental Protection Agency s Science Advisory Board committee that evaluated EPA s dioxin reassessment. 

Some 3 billion have been spent on researching possible health effects from dioxin, and the results show that the risks were overstated. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency s Science Advisory Board concluded that the evidence that dioxin is a cause of human cancer and other diseases is unconvincing.3 Furthermore, studies of workers exposed to the highest levels of dioxin ever experienced—levels that will never be seen again— have failed to produce any conclusive evidence of connections between dioxin and cancer4 and the other health effects.5... 

The described symptoms may not always have relevance for human exposure. Nevertheless, the EU s Scientific Committee for Food (SCF) has recently published its risk assessment for dioxins and the PCBs related to the dioxins, and state that a weekly intake dose of 7 pg of dioxin/kg of body weight (or lower) is tolerable. The Environmental Protection Agency s Science Advisory Board in the U.S. also concluded that dioxins might give health effects at levels close to background exposures (see Kaiser, 2000). One of the problems is to decide if its toxicity has a threshold, and as yet, it has not been possible to agree on a safe dose. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Water science analytical methods. EPA 821-B-03-004, 2005. 

Shah JJ, Heyerdahl EK. 1988. National ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) Data base update. Report to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Atmospheric Sciences Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, NC by Nero and Associates, Inc., Portland, OR. EPA/600/3-88/010a... 

T. B. Starr, Significant Shortcomings of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency s Latest Draft Risk Characterization for Dioxin-Like Compounds, Toxicological Sciences 04 (2001) 7-13. 

Good science exists in research in academic institutions apart from the soon to be established Environmental Protection Agency s (EPA) Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) guidelines. However, this is not to say that GLP s are not advisable. Good science should be able to stand up to review as having been performed using appropriate and adequate laboratory practices. Scientists have had their work routinely scrutinized by their peers for its quality and will not resent careful analysis by others. For example, only a portion of the work produced by the scientific community is acceptable for publication in its various journals. The rate of acceptance in journals varies but it is apparent that the peer review system attempts to serve as a quality control mechanism in the scientific community. 

JOSEPH K. ALEXANDER, senior program officer, served previously as director of the Space Studies Board (1999-2005), deputy assistant administrator for science in the Environmental Protection Agency s Office of Research and Development (1994-1998), associate director of space sciences at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (1993-1994), and assistant associate administrator for space sciences and applications in the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications (1987-1993). Other positions have included deputy NASA chief scientist and senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Mr. Alexander s own research work has been in radio astronomy and space physics. He received B.S. and M.A. degrees in physics from the College of William and Mary. 

Report prepared for the Committee on Science and Technology, U. S. House of Representatives, "The Environmental Protection Agency s Research Program with Primaiy Emphasis on the Community Health and Environmental Surveillance System." U. S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1976. 

Work it the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency s Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory, Exposure Assessment Research Division, was directed by Dr. Jeanette M. Van Emon. Also involved were Mr. Richard White (Lockheed - Engineering and Sciences Co.) and Mr. Kaz Lindley (University of Nevada, Las Vegas -Environmental Research Center). 

Barry Dellinger is the Patrick F. Taylor Chair of the Environmental Impact of Treatment of Hazardous Wastes and professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University (LSU). He is the director of the LSU Intercollege Environmental Cooperative and the acting director of the Biodynamics Institute. He is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board Environmental Engineering Committee. From 1981 to 1998, he was group leader of environmental sciences and engineering at the University of Dayton where he also held a joint faculty appointment. From 1978-1981 he was a senior project... 

U.S. EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) (2000), Science Advisory Council for Exposure Policy Number 003.1 Regarding Agriculmral Transfer Coefficients, Revised August 7, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, Washington, D.C. 

Improvements Needed in the Environmental Protection Agency s Testing Programs for Radon Testimony Hearing Before the H. Subcomm. on Natural Resources, Agriculture Research, and Environment, Comm, on Science, Space and Technology, GAO/T-RCED-90-54, 1 (May, 16, 1990) (Statement for the Record by Richard L. Hembra, Director, Environmental Protection Issues Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division, EPA). 

Water Quality Criteria, 1972, Report No. R-73-033, National Academy of Sciences— National Academy of Engineering, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 1973, pp. 151—171 and appendix. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The Acidic Deposition Phenomenon and Its Effect, vol. 2 Effects Sciences, Critical Assessment Review Papers, Report EPA 600/9-83-016AF, EPA, Washington, D.C., 1984, pp. 4—11. 

NSF = National Science Foundatiott DOE = Department of Energy NIH - National Institutes of Health DOD S Department of Defense EPA = Environmental Protection Agency NBS = National Bureau of Standards BOM = Bureau of Mines CPI = U.S. chemical processing industries. 

FSTRAC. 1995. Summary of state and federal drinking water standards and guidelines. 1993-1995. Contaminant Policy and Communications Subcommittee, Federal-State Toxicology and Regulatory Alliance Committee. Cosponsored by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Science and Technology. Office of Water. 

EPA. 1979a. Atmospheric distributions, sources and sinks of selected halocarbons, hydrocarbons, SFg, and N2O. Research Triangle Park, NC U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Sciences Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, 24-33. EPA 600/3-79-107. 

USEPA. Review of American Cyanamid Company s Probablistic Assessment of Chlorfenapyr and Request for Guidance on Problem Formulation. In FIFRA Science Advisory Panel Report, SAP99-05. US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (1999). Also available on the World Wide Web http //www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap/1999/september/finalrpt.pdf. 

National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, Health Effects of Alpha-Emitting Particles in the Respiratory Tract, Report of AD Hoc Committee on Hot Particles, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 520/4-76-013, October 1976. 

Toxicity and exposure studies indicate PFOA is immunosuppressive and can cause developmental problems and other adverse effects in laboratory animals, such as rodents [Lau et al (2004), Lau et al (2006)]. In 2005 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft risk assessment of its potential human health effects [U S. EPA (2005)]. A subsequent review by the EPA science advisory board concluded that there is sufficient evidence to classify PFOA as likely human carcinogenic. 

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