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PA EPA PUBLISHES FINAL GUIDELINES FOR ECOLOGICAL AND NEUROTOXICITY RISK ASSESSMENT
Release Date: 05/08/98
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1998
EPA PUBLISHES FINAL GUIDELINES FOR ECOLOGICAL
AND NEUROTOXICITY RISK ASSESSMENT
Final EPA guidelines for conducting ecological and neurotoxicity risk assessments were signed on Friday, May 1. The Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment represent the Agency’s first effort to provide broad guidance in the area of ecological risk assessment. Similarly, the Neurotoxicity Risk Assessment Guidelines signify the first time EPA is making formal guidance available on the use and interpretation of neurotoxicity data. Both guidelines were developed to describe the risk assessment process and to foster consistency across the Agency when planning and conducting risk assessments. The Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment address three primary phases which consist of problem formulation, analysis and risk characterization. They also describe general principles and provide numerous examples of how these principles can be applied to specific situations, such as hazardous waste clean-up, new chemical and pesticide registration and watershed management, among others. The Neurotoxicity Risk Assessment Guidelines are intended to guide the Agency’s evaluation of chemical agents that are suspected of causing adverse neurological effects in humans. They also focus on the special vulnerability of infants and children’s nervous systems. The guidelines identify information gaps that could be the subject of research and analysis that will lead to new risk assessment methods and data, especially in the field of neurological study. Both sets of guidelines were prepared by panels of representatives from across EPA organized by the Agency’s Risk Assessment Forum. The guidelines will appear in the Federal Register soon and will be available on the Internet at: https://www.epa.gov/ncea.
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