Chloroform

Overview

In September 2017, EPA released the draft IRIS Assessment Plan (IAP) for Chloroform for public review and comment. An IRIS Assessment Plan (IAP) communicates to the public the plan for assessing each individual chemical and includes summary information on the IRIS Program’s scoping and initial problem formulation; objectives and specific aims for the assessment; the PECO (Populations, Exposures, Comparators, and Outcomes) criteria that outlines the evidence considered most pertinent to the assessment; and identification of key areas of scientific complexity. The PECO provides the framework for developing literature search strategies and inclusion/exclusion criteria, particularly with respect to evidence stream (i.e., human, animal, mechanistic), exposure measures and outcome measures.

Background

Chloroform (trichloromethane) is a colorless, volatile liquid with a distinct odor. Chloroform is nonflammable. It is slightly soluble in water and is readily miscible with most organic solvents. Because chloroform is relatively volatile, it tends to escape from contaminated environmental media (e.g., water or soil) into air, and may also be released in vapor form from some types of industrial or chemical operations.

Therefore, humans may be exposed to chloroform not only by ingestion of chloroform in drinking water, food, or soil, but also by dermal contact with contaminated media (especially water) and by inhalation of vapor (especially in indoor air).

History/Chronology

Date	Description
Sep 1984	EPA released the Health Effects Assessment for Chloroform.
Apr 1988	EPA released the Updated Health Effects Assessment for Chloroform.
Oct 2001	EPA released the final toxicological report and summary document and posted these to the IRIS database.
Sep 2017	EPA released the IRIS Assessment Plan (IAP) for Chloroform for public comment and review. [Federal Register Notice Sep 18, 2017]
Sep 2017	EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) discussed the draft document at a public meeting on September 27-28, 2017.

Status

Following the SAB public meeting, the IRIS Program will use the IAP to inform the subsequent development of chemical-specific systematic review protocols.

This download(s) is distributed solely for the purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. It has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be construed to represent any Agency determination or policy.

• IRIS Assessment Plan for Chloroform (Sep 2017) (PDF)  (14  pp, 369.1 KB, about PDF)
• Memorandum: SAB Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee Briefing on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Evolution of Assessment Practices (PDF)  (4  pp, 176.8 KB, about PDF)
• SAB Briefings on IRIS Assessment Plan for Chloroform
• EPA-HQ-ORD-2017-0497

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Document Related Link(s)

• SAB Activity Page on the Briefing by NCEA on development of IRIS draft assessments
• PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF CANCER RATES IN PRIMARY ORGANIC CHEMICAL-PRODUCING COUNTIES
• Updated Health Effects Assessment for Chloroform
• IRIS Toxicological Review of Chloroform (Final Report, 2001)
• Systematic Review Protocol For The IRIS Chloroform Assessment (Inhalation) (Preliminary Assessment Materials)

Federal Register Notices

• FR Notice: Sep 18, 2017