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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Asbestos worker protection. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Final rule.

In this Final Rule, EPA is amending both the Asbestos Worker Protection Rule (WPR) and the Asbestos-in-Schools Rule. The WPR amendment protects State and local government employees from the health risks of exposure to asbestos to the same extent as private sector workers by adopting for these employees the Asbestos Standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The WPR's coverage is extended to State and local government employees who are performing construction work, custodial work, and automotive brake and clutch repair work. This final rule cross-references the OSHA Asbestos Standards for Construction and for General Industry, so that future amendments to these OSHA standards are directly and equally effective for employees covered by the WPR. EPA also amends the Asbestos-in-Schools Rule to provide coverage under the WPR for employees of public local education agencies who perform operations, maintenance, and repair activities. EPA is issuing this final rule under section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Asbestos↗
PubMed2002

Environmental economics for environmental protection.

Environmental economics deals with the optimal allocation of production factors and correcting market failure in protecting the environment. Market failure occurs because of externalities, common property resources, and public goods. Environmental policy instruments include direct regulation, taxes/subsidies, tradable permits, deposit systems, voluntary agreements, and persuasion. Environmental policies usually focus on one pollutant or environmental issue but may have substantial impacts on other emissions and environmental problems. Neglecting these impacts will result in suboptimal policies. We present an integrated optimisation model for determining cost-effective strategies to simultaneously reduce emissions of several pollutants from several sources, allowing for interrelations between sources and abatement options. Our integrated approach in regard to acidifying compounds and greenhouse gases will be able to provide cost-effective policy options that will result in lower overall abatement costs. This paper shows that efficient emission reduction can be calculated, but we argue that, for transboundary air pollution and climate change, it is difficult to implement the socially optimal solution because strong incentives exist for "free-riding". In order to implement efficient policies, international environmental agreements like the Gothenburg or the Kyoto Protocol are necessary to establish stable coalitions. The stability of these agreements depends on the distribution of costs and benefits over countries and on the redistribution of the gains of cooperation.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1996

Formulating an Ecosystem Approach to Environmental Protection

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has embraced a new strategy of environmental protection that is place-driven rather than program-driven. This new approach focuses on the protection of entire ecosystems. To develop an effective strategy of ecosystem protection, however, EPA will need to: (1) determine how to define and delineate ecosystems and (2) categorize threats to individual ecosystems and priority rank ecosystems at risk. Current definitions of ecosystem in use at EPA are inadequate for meaningful use in a management or regulatory context. A landscape-based definition that describes an ecosystem as a volumetric unit delineated by climatic and landscape features is suggested. Following this definition, ecosystems are organized hierarchically, from megaecosystems, which exist on a continental scale (e.g., Great Lakes), to small local ecosystems.Threats to ecosystems can generally be categorized as: (1) ecosystem degradation (occurs mainly through pollution) (2) ecosystem alteration (physical changes such as water diversion), and (3) ecosystem removal (e.g., conversion of wetlands or forest to urban or agricultural lands). Level of threat (i.e., how imminent), and distance from desired future condition are also important in evaluating threats to ecosystems. Category of threat, level of threat, and "distance" from desired future condition can be combined into a three-dimensional ranking system for ecosystems at risk. The purpose of the proposed ranking system is to suggest a preliminary framework for agencies such as EPA to prioritize responses to ecosystems at risk.KEY WORDS: Ecosystem approach; Ecological risk assessment; Environmental protection; EPA

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Lessons learned for the National Children's Study from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research.

This mini-monograph was developed to highlight the experiences of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research, focusing particularly on several areas of interest for the National Children's Study. These include general methodologic issues for conducting longitudinal birth cohort studies and community-based participatory research and for measuring air pollution exposures, pesticide exposures, asthma, and neurobehavioral toxicity. Rather than a detailed description of the studies in each of the centers, this series of articles is intended to provide information on the practicalities of conducting such intensive studies and the lessons learned. This explication of lessons learned provides an outstanding opportunity for the planners of the National Children's Study to draw on past experiences that provide information on what has and has not worked when studying diverse multiracial and multiethnic groups of children with unique urban and rural exposures. The Children's Centers have addressed and overcome many hurdles in their efforts to understand the link between environmental exposures and health outcomes as well as interactions between exposures and a variety of social and cultural factors. Some of the major lessons learned include the critical importance of long-term studies for assessing the full range of developmental consequences of environmental exposures, recognition of the unique challenges presented at different life stages for both outcome and exposure measurement, and the importance of ethical issues that must be dealt with in a changing medical and legal environment. It is hoped that these articles will be of value to others who are embarking on studies of children's environmental health.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brownfields assessment pilot program environmentally just?

In the early 1990s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) started a grant program to assist communities redevelop brownfields, which are abandoned or underutilized sites that have real or perceived contamination. In addition to determining if the communities receiving the grants were the most distressed cities in the United States, we also evaluate the U.S. EPA program in terms of environmental justice at the macro scale. Using 1990 U.S. Census of Housing and Population data and a matched-cities methodology, we compared the brownfields pilot cities to other communities in the United States. We found that regardless of intent, the U.S. EPA program is environmentally just by disproportionately awarding grants to the most economically distressed cities. We also found that the cities that received funding in the early years of the program were more economically distressed than cities receiving the funding more recently.

Cities↗
PubMed1992

Regulatory concerns of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The US Environmental Protection Agency, under 2 of its legislative mandates, has the authority to require the testing of industrial and pesticide chemicals. Among the testing requirements, particularly in chronic studies, are those relating to hematology, clinical chemistry, and urinalysis. Some of these requirements will be discussed in detail. Comments on the usefulness of the current requirements and recommendations for changes will be solicited from the meeting participants.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Tolerance setting process in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for setting tolerances for pesticide residues in food, under the authority of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The residue chemistry data required to set tolerances include metabolism in plants and animals, analytical methods, magnitude of the residue, and concentration in processed foods. A key aspect of tolerance-setting procedures is the identity of the residue in the matrix of concern; without knowledge of the chemical moieties that occur as residues, it is impossible to develop suitable methods or generate meaningful residue data. For new chemicals, EPA carries out a single-laboratory validation of the analytical method needed to generate residue data and to enforce tolerances. Tolerance enforcement methods need to be rapid and inexpensive and to use commercially available equipment and reagents. Methods are more complex for many newer pesticides, which are polar compounds that leave low levels of residue. EPA now requires that the registrants of older pesticides, for which methods are not acceptable by today's standards, must develop better methods.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed2006

The association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and breast cancer: a review by the California Environmental Protection Agency.

BACKGROUND: The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) recently completed a health effects assessment of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) which resulted in California listing ETS as a Toxic Air Contaminant in January 2006. As part of the assessment, studies on the association between exposure to ETS and breast cancer were reviewed. METHODS: Twenty-six published reports (including 3 meta-analyses) evaluating the association between ETS exposure and breast cancer were reviewed. A weight-of-evidence approach was applied to evaluate the data and draw conclusions about the association between breast cancer and ETS exposure. RESULTS: The published data indicate an association between ETS and breast cancer in younger primarily premenopausal women. Thirteen of 14 studies (10 case-control and four cohort) that allowed analysis by menopausal status reported elevated risk estimates for breast cancer in premenopausal women, seven of which were statistically significant. Our meta-analyses indicated elevated summary relative risks ranging from OR 1.68 (95% C.I. 1.31, 2.15) for all 14 studies to 2.20 (95% C.I. 1.69, 2.87) for those with the best exposure assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Cal/EPA concluded that regular ETS exposure is causally related to breast cancer diagnosed in younger, primarily premenopausal women and that the association is not likely explained by bias or confounding.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1992

Assessing the health risks of priority substances under the Canadian environmental protection act.

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) came into force in June 1988. This legislation provides the federal government with broad powers to deal with health and environmental problems posed by chemicals and the products of biotechnology throughout their life cycle. Responsibility for administering CEPA is shared between the Department of the Environment and the Department of National Health and Welfare. Part II of the Act, the "toxic substances" provisions, enables the federal government to impose controls on substances new to Canadian commerce and to address the health and environmental risks posed by existing substances. Part II of CEPA also delineates the manner in which existing substances are to be selected for assessment (priority substances) and controlled. The first Priority Substances List was published in February 1989. The 44 entries on this list include discrete chemicals, classes of chemicals, and complex mixtures of chemicals; the Department of the Environment and the Department of National Health and Welfare must ascertain whether these substances pose a risk (are "toxic" as defined in CEPA) to the environment or to human health by February 1994. This paper outlines the administrative arrangements for conducting risk assessments and the requirements for ascertaining whether a substance is "toxic" with respect to human health under CEPA. The rationale for deeming dioxins and furans, the first two priority substances to be assessed, as "toxic" with respect to human health is also described.

Canada↗
PubMed1995

Approach to health risk determination for metals and their compounds under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) authorizes the Ministers of the Environment and of Health in Canada to investigate a wide variety of substances that may contaminate the environment and cause adverse effects on the environment and/or on human health. Under the Act, assessments have been completed for 44 environmental contaminants on the first Priority Substances List, including four metals and their compounds. The principles developed for the assessment of risk to human health for priority substances under CEPA are outlined, with specific emphasis on the metals. These include general aspects such as estimation of total exposure from all media, the development of exposure potency indices for carcinogens in lieu of low-dose risk estimates, and incorporation of toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic data, where available, to modify traditionally adopted uncertainty factors for development of tolerable intakes, or concentrations, for nonneoplastic effects. Aspects of the approach to human health risk assessment more specific to the metals considered under CEPA (i.e., arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and nickel) and implications for the subsequent strategic options process are also addressed, including the extent to which various chemical forms could be assessed (i.e., speciation) and essentiality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Effects of seeding procedures and water quality on recovery of Cryptosporidium oocysts from stream water by using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Method 1623.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency method 1623 is widely used to monitor source waters and drinking water supplies for Cryptosporidium oocysts. Matrix spikes, used to determine the effect of the environmental matrix on the method's recovery efficiency for the target organism, require the collection and analysis of two environmental samples, one for analysis of endemic oocysts and the other for analysis of recovery efficiency. A new product, ColorSeed, enables the analyst to determine recovery efficiency by using modified seeded oocysts that can be differentiated from endemic organisms in a single sample. Twenty-nine stream water samples and one untreated effluent sample from a cattle feedlot were collected in triplicate to compare modified seeding procedures to conventional seeding procedures that use viable, unmodified oocysts. Significant negative correlations were found between the average oocyst recovery and turbidity or suspended sediment; this was especially apparent in samples with turbidities greater than 100 nephelometric turbidity units and suspended sediment concentrations greater than 100 mg/liter. Cryptosporidium oocysts were found in 16.7% of the unseeded environmental samples, and concentrations, adjusted for recoveries, ranged from 4 to 80 oocysts per 10 liters. Determining recovery efficiency also provided data to calculate detection limits; these ranged from <2 to <215 oocysts per 10 liters. Recoveries of oocysts ranged from 2.0 to 61% for viable oocysts and from 3.0 to 59% for modified oocysts. The recoveries between the two seeding procedures were highly correlated (r = 0.802) and were not significantly different. Recoveries by using modified oocysts, therefore, were comparable to recoveries by using conventional seeding procedures.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Hazardous waste management system: standards applicable to generators of hazardous waste and standards applicable to owners and operators of hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities--Environmental Protection Agency. Proposed rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is today proposing amendments to its hazardous waste regulations under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These amendments would replace the annual reporting requirements for hazardous waste generators and owners and operators of hazardous waste treatment, storage, ad disposal (TSD) facilities with a biennial survey of representative samples of those populations. This approach will provide verifiable data on a wider range of topics, better serve EPA's long term regulatory needs under RCRA, and reduce significantly the information burden on the regulated community.

Refuse Disposal↗
PubMed2003

Can an hour or two of sun protection education keep the sunburn away? Evaluation of the Environmental Protection Agency's Sunwise School Program.

BACKGROUND: Melanoma incidence is rising at a rate faster than any other preventable cancer in the United States. Childhood exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light increases risk for skin cancer as an adult, thus starting positive sun protection habits early may be key to reducing the incidence of this disease. METHODS: The Environmental Protection Agency's SunWise School Program, a national environmental and health education program for sun safety of children in primary and secondary schools (grades K-8), was evaluated with surveys administered to participating students and faculty. RESULTS: Pretests (n = 5,625) and posttests (n = 5,028) were completed by students in 102 schools in 42 states. Significant improvement was noted for the three knowledge variables. Intentions to play in the shade increased from 68% to 75%(p < 0.001) with more modest changes in intentions to use sunscreen. Attitudes regarding healthiness of a tan also decreased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Brief, standardized sun protection education can be efficiently interwoven into existing school curricula, and result in improvements in knowledge and positive intentions for sun protection.

Adolescent↗