EPA Requests Nominations for SACC Review of Draft Supplement to the 1,4-Dioxane Risk Evaluation Under TSCA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is calling for nominations of ad hoc expert reviewers to assist the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) with their review of the 2023 Draft Supplement to the 1,4-Dioxane Risk Evaluation under the Toxic Substances Review Act (TSCA).

EPA plans to release the 2023 Draft Supplement to the 1,4-Dioxane Risk Evaluation for public comment in June of 2023. This document will be reviewed by the SACC at a 4-day public virtual meeting in September 2023. Registration instructions for the meeting will be announced on the SACC website in the summer of 2023.

After the final risk evaluation for 1,4-dioxane was published in December 2020, EPA determined an additional supplement was needed to consider critical exposure pathways not previously assessed. Specifically, this supplement includes evaluation of additional conditions of use in which 1,4-dioxane is present as a byproduct in industrial processes and commercial products and evaluates risks from general population exposures to 1,4-dioxane released to ambient surface water and groundwater, ambient air, and land. To evaluate these additional exposure pathways, the Agency used new methods and novel applications of existing methods. EPA is seeking review of these new methods because they have not been the subject of public comment or peer review for applications in TSCA risk evaluations. Feedback from this review will be considered in the development of the final supplement to the 1,4-dioxane risk evaluation.

Nominations must be submitted on or before April 24, 2023. These nominations will be used to assist the Agency in selecting approximately 10 to 15 ad hoc reviewers to assist the SACC with its review. Nominations must be submitted to the Designated Federal Official (DFO), Dr. Alaa Kamel, via email at [email protected]. Do not email any information you consider to be confidential business information or otherwise protected.

Individuals nominated for this SACC peer review should have expertise in one or more of the following areas as described in the Federal Register notice: engineering; industrial hygiene; statistics; exposure science and contaminant hydrology; exposure science with experience in air modeling; petroleum engineering; and risk assessment. Nominees should be scientists who have sufficient professional qualifications, including training and experience, to be capable of providing expert comments on the scientific issues for this review. Prospective candidates for service on the SACC will be asked to submit confidential financial information which shall fully disclose, among other financial interests, the candidate's employment, stocks and bonds, and where applicable, sources of research support. EPA will evaluate the candidates' financial disclosure forms to assess whether there are financial conflicts of interest, appearance of a loss of impartiality, or any prior involvement with the development of the documents under consideration (including previous scientific peer review) before the candidate is considered further for service on the SACC.

The SACC serves as a scientific peer review mechanism of EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. It provides independent scientific advice and recommendations to EPA on the scientific basis for risk assessments, methodologies and pollution prevention measures and approaches for chemicals regulated under TSCA.  

For additional information, please see the docket (EPA-HQ-OPPT-2022-0905) or contact the DFO listed above.