Chemical Assessments On Hold Pending Review

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is putting on hold four of its ongoing IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System) assessments pending a review of some of the underlying studies used in the assessments. EPA is holding these assessments due to a report from the National Toxicology Program (NTP) that outlines a recent review of a research study completed by the Ramazzini Institute, a lab in Italy that conducts animal testing to evaluate the potential cancer-causing effects of chemicals.

To ensure the agency’s chemical assessments are grounded in the soundest possible science, EPA undertook a thorough review of all ongoing and previous chemical assessments to determine which, if any, relied substantially on cancer testing from the Ramazzini Institute. EPA found six assessments that significantly rely on data from Ramazzini cancer studies: ongoing chemical assessments for methanol, MTBE, ETBE and acrylonitrile, and previously completed assessments for vinyl chloride and 1,1- dichloroethylene. EPA plans to continue its review to determine if any other assessments are significantly impacted.

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