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INFORMATION NEEDS FOR RISK ASSESSMENT IN EPA’S OFFICE OF POLLUTION PREVENTION AND TOXICS
Author(s) -
Nabholz J. V.,
Clements R. G.,
Zeeman M. G.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
ecological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.864
H-Index - 213
eISSN - 1939-5582
pISSN - 1051-0761
DOI - 10.1890/1051-0761(1997)007[1094:infrai]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , risk assessment , pollution , environmental science , pollution prevention , control (management) , business , environmental data , environmental planning , environmental resource management , risk analysis (engineering) , environmental health , computer science , engineering , ecology , waste management , computer security , medicine , biology , philosophy , epistemology , artificial intelligence
The information needs of the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT; a part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) are broad. We prefer to have all relevant data about an industrial chemical before risk assessment. This information includes physical/chemical properties, fate and transport in the environment, and environmental toxicity. However, OPPT’s needs are constrained by the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA), since TSCA does not require any testing of new chemicals prior to notification. While TSCA has broad information‐gathering power, OPPT has to justify the need for the data and has to define the type of information needed generally by writing test protocols. When risk assessments have to be done in the absence of measured data for a chemical substance, then OPPT uses structure–activity relationships (SAR) to fill in data gaps.