2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin
CASRN 1746-01-6 | DTXSID2021315
- IRIS Summary (PDF) (16 pp, 146.5 KB)
- 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin Support Documents
EPA's Reanalysis of Key Issues Related to Dioxin Toxicity and Response to NAS Comments (External Review Draft)
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Overview
This draft dioxin report is EPA’s response to key comments and recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences on the Agency’s draft dioxin reassessment. This assessment has been in progress for many years and raises health issues of broad interest to scientists and policymakers across the federal family. The Agency’s draft report includes significant new analyses on potential cancer and non-cancer human health effects that may result from exposures to dioxins and includes an oral reference dose for what is considered to be the most toxic of the dioxin-like compounds.
EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) will convene an expert panel to review this draft report; the SAB held their first public meeting on July 13-15, 2010. Many stakeholders have significant interest in EPA’s dioxin assessment activities, and the release of this draft report will likely be of interest to environmental and health advocacy groups, the regulated community, states, media, and Congress. We want to stress that this report is a draft scientific document that is still subject to independent external peer review and public review. The Agency is committed to a transparent, scientifically sound process to determine how this chemical impacts Americans’ health.
Citation
Background
The NAS identified three areas in the 2003 draft reassessment that required substantial improvement to support a more scientifically robust risk characterization. These three areas were: (1) justification of approaches to dose-response modeling for cancer and non-cancer endpoints; (2) transparency and clarity in selection of key data sets for analysis; and (3) transparency, thoroughness, and clarity in quantitative uncertainty analysis. The NAS provided EPA with recommendations to address their key concerns. The Draft Response to Comments report, which is being provided for public review and comment, responds to the key recommendations included in NAS’s 2006 report. This draft report includes significant new analyses on both the potential cancer and noncancer human health effects that may result from of exposures to dioxins. For instance, the Draft Response to Comments report addresses the explicit recommendation of the NAS to develop a quantitative risk estimate for noncancer effects that may result from long-term (chronic) oral exposure to dioxins. Thus, the Draft Response to Comments report includes an oral reference dose (RfD) for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD); the most well studied and considered to be the most toxic of the dioxin-like compounds. An RfD was not in the 2003 draft dioxin reassessment.
In addition, in 2003 EPA and other federal agencies developed a set of questions and answers related to dioxins. They have updated them about every year and a half. These materials have again been updated to include more recent information. These questions and answers provide general information on dioxins such as what they are, where they can be found, and major sources of dioxins. They also discuss possible effects of dioxin exposure in humans, include advice about consumption of food that might contain dioxins, and explain the review process for the dioxin reassessment.
History/Chronology
Date | Description |
---|---|
Oct 2004 | EPA released the NAS External Review Draft of the Dioxin Assessment, in preparation for the first NAS panel meeting (held 11/22 -23/2004), in Wash., DC. This is still the most current version of the EPA Dioxin Assessment. |
Jul 2006 | NAS released Health Risks from Dioxin and Related Compounds: Evaluation of the EPA Reassessment. |
Nov 2008 | EPA released a preliminary search list to address EPA's Reponses to the NAS comments on the 2003 Dioxin Reassessment report. |
Feb 2009 | EPA hosted a 3-day public, scientific workshop to assist EPA in responding to the NAS reports on Dioxin. [ Workshop Announcement and details] |
Jun 2009 | EPA released the Dioxin Workshop Summary report containing discussions and conclusions from the Feb 18-20, 2009 workshop held in Cincinnati, Ohio. |
Feb 2010 | EPA initiated an interagency science consultation on the review of the draft Response to "Health Risks from Dioxin and Related Compounds: Evaluation of the EPA Reassessment" published by the NRC/NAS . |
May 2010 | EPA released the draft report for public review and comment. [Federal Register May 21, 2010] |
Jun 2010 | EPA extended the public comment period until September 20, 2010. [Federal Register Notice Jun 23, 2010] |
Status
Additional Information
Download(s)
- EPA’s Reanalysis of Key Issues Related to Dioxin Toxicity and Response to NAS Comments (PDF) (1849 pp, 16.0 MB, about PDF)
- EPA’s Reanalysis of Key Issues Related to Dioxin Toxicity and Response to NAS Comments (without Appendices) (PDF) (690 pp, 14.0 MB, about PDF)
- EPA’s Reanalysis of Key Issues Related to Dioxin Toxicity and Response to NAS Comments (Appendices Only) (PDF) (1159 pp, 6.1 MB, about PDF)
- Charge to External Reviewers (PDF) (7 pp, 101.6 KB, about PDF)
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Document Related Link(s)
- EPA Dioxin Web site
- Press Release: EPA Releases Draft Dioxin Report for Peer Review and Public Comment
- Exposure and Human Health Reassessment of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin (Tcdd) and Related Compounds: Science Advisory Board (External Review Draft) (2000)
- EPA's Science Plan For Activities Related To Dioxins In the Environment