Environmental Protection Agency s Science Advisory Board

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. 

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. Science Advisory Board, 1989. Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Report Review of the Lead NAAQS Exposure Analysis Methodology and Evaluation, Report No. EPA SAB-CASAC-89-018. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. 

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. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Science Advisory Board,... 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Science Advisory Board (SAB), Dioxin Reassessment—An SAB Review of the Office of Research and Development s Reassessment of Dioxin (EPA-SAB-EC-01-006) (Washington,... 

EPA (1992a). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Commentary on harmonizing chemical and radiation risk-reduction strategies, Letter report prepared by Science Advisory Board s Radiation Advisory Committee, EPA-SAB-RAC-COM-92-007 (May 18) (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington). 

EPA. 1988a. Review of the barium health criteria document. Metals Subcommittee of the Science Advisory Board s Environmental Health Committee. Washington, DC US Environmental Protection Agency. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1990b. Reducing Risk Setting Priorities and Strategies for Environmental Protection. Science Advisory Board SAB — EC-90-02 I, Washington, D.C. 

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Health Advisory Committee, Science Advisory Board (December 29, 1978) Report of the Ad Hoc Study Group on Pentachlorophenol Contaminants. EPA/SAB 78/001. Washington, DC 20460, P. 4. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board. Review of draft documents A cancer risk specific dose estimate for 2,3,7,8-TCDD and estimating exposures to 2,3,7,8-TCDD. Washington D.C. EPA Science Advisory Board A[Pg.13]

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