Posted on March 2, 2012 by Michael Hardy
Attorneys, environmental professionals and regulators understand the importance of the Integrated Risk Information System, known as IRIS. In rule-making, permitting, or remediation, the IRIS provides the EPA’s assessment of the health effects possibly resulting from exposure to chemicals in the environment. Whether trying to determine the hazard index, reference dose, cancer slope factor, or other critical toxicological end-point, the IRIS assessment of a specific chemical constitutes an important first step. Currently, the EPA has completed risk assessments of approximately 550 chemicals in the IRIS, and reports that another 55 are on-going.
But there have been numerous, long standing and wide-ranging criticisms of the IRIS process. For example, the National Academy of Sciences criticized the EPA’s IRIS assessment for formaldehyde because it failed to explain its criteria for: identifying epidemiologic and experimental evidence, assessing the weight of the evidence, and characterizing uncertainty and variability. The NAS noted that these criticisms applied with equal force to other IRIS chemical assessments as well.
More recently, in December, 2011, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report to a House subcommittee crediting EPA for making some improvements in the process since earlier criticisms by the GAO in 2008, but noting recurring and new issues remain. The GAO previously noted the IRIS data base faced a serious risk of becoming obsolete because EPA could not keep pace with the pace of needed assessments. Even now, the GAO reported, the IRIS continues to suffer from problems with timeliness and productivity and “issues of clarity and transparency.” The GAO called on EPA to develop a better system to apprise stakeholders of the status of IRIS assessments. As an example, the GAO suggested a minimum of a two year notice of intent to assess a specific chemical, coupled with annual Federal Register reports on the status of on-going and proposed assessments.
To improve the credibility of the risk assessments, the GAO recommended the agency heed the recommendations of the National Academies. The National Academies proposed improvements such as standardized approaches to evaluate and describe study strengths and weaknesses and the weight of the evidence. Additionally, to restore scientific and technical credibility, the National Academies suggested the agency should involve independent expertise like the EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors.
The GAO reports EPA has been receptive to its constructive criticisms and suggestions. But the GAO and the trade press observe it is unclear how the EPA will actually implement the various suggestions from the GAO and the regulated community.
Tags: IRIS, risk assessment, chemicals, GAO