Advancing the Science & Practice of Cumulative Risk Assessment:
Alignment of ORD Research & Agency Needs
July 28-30, 2009
Region 5 Chicago 12th Floor Conference Facility
Background: Public interest in the health and environmental impacts of chemical exposures and their interactions with other stressors continues to grow with increased information about exposures to multiple chemicals in air, water and soil. The EPA has responded to this interest and to legislative drivers, such as the SDWA and FQPA, by designing approaches to evaluating chemical mixtures through research and the development of guidance documents, synthesis reports, and workshops on cumulative risk assessment. In addition, there is a growing awareness (e.g., Science and Decisions, Advancing Risk Assessment, NAS, 2008) that population vulnerability factors must also be considered in evaluating cumulative risk. In this context, cumulative risk assessment may be thought of as a place-based analysis, including qualitative and/or quantitative characterization of the combined risks to health or the environment from multiple-route exposures to multiple stressors.
About the Workshop: ORD and EPA’s Regions are sponsoring a workshop to address the complexities of interacting exposures and health and environmental threats from chemical, physical, and biological stressors within defined geographic areas. The emphasis of the workshop will be on problem formulation and solving in the context of integrated risk management strategies. The workshop will start with a consideration of the Agency’s current approaches to cumulative risk, then move forward to consider exposures and effects in the context of community risk, including sensitive species, population vulnerabilities, spatial and temporal consideration, environmental justice, and tribal issues.
Workshop Goals:
- To move the science/art of cumulative risk assessment forward for more satisfying, integrated real-world risk assessments for regulatory and nonregulatory applications.
- To bridge the 2-way street between Program Office regulatory needs, Regional application needs, and ORD research.
- To move toward incorporation of cumulative risk into ORD research plans and HQ and Regional Program common practices.
Workshop Structure
- Workshop Environmental Science Connector (ESC): Information repository
- Participants: Regional, Program Office, and ORD scientists, staff, and management, and invited non-EPA experts.
- Pre-Workshop Seminars on selected cumulative risk assessment will be presented as teleconferences to educate participants on major topics and tools in cumulative risk assessment. Open to EPA and non-EPA participants.
- Workshop: Plenary presentations and case studies will illustrate different applications and aspects of human health and ecological Cumulative Risk Assessment in support of risk-based corrective actions. These case studies will form the basis for group exercises to address:
- What types of stressors and threats should be included or excluded in a CRA?
- What are the criteria for including or excluding a stressor in a particular assessment?
- How might these change with different problem formulation or risk management options?
- How can the Agency insure that the output of a cumulative risk assessment relates back to cumulative risk management goals?
- What new or existing tools might be necessary?
- How does the Agency develop integrated assessments?
Workshop Outcomes: This Workshop will produce recommendations for incorporating chemical and non-chemical stressors into risk management decisions relevant to EPA’s Regions; recommendations for ORD research targeted toward the production of needed data and tools for evaluation of cumulative risk; continued cross-Agency discussion on holistic approaches to managing cumulative risk, as needed to handle different aspects of this problem. These recommendations and records of the plenary presentations, breakout group discussions, and the teleseminar series will be included in a Proceedings Document.
Steering Committee and contacts: Tim Barzyk, Andrew Geller, David Herr, ORD; Charles Maurice, ORD/Region 5; Matthew Small, Region 9; Patti Tyler, Region 8
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