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Inorganic HPV Challenge Program
On December 8, 2008, a public meeting, which was announced in the Federal Register, (4 pp., 60 KB, About PDF) was held to initiate EPA's work on an IHPV Challenge Program. The meeting was conducted to provide an overview of EPA's proposed approach (21 pp., 79 KB, About PDF) and identify additional details and/or issues for further consideration. The Agency proposed a phased, multi-year approach (4 pp., 33 KB, About PDF) to develop and implement a program for "inorganic" HPV chemicals similar to the organic chemical High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Program, which will provide the Agency, industry, and the public with more complete information on the hazards and risks of inorganic HPV chemicals presently used in U.S. commerce.During the first phase, EPA plans to ask a wide range of stakeholders for comments and input on approaches for this program, including:
- Lessons learned from the organic HPV Challenge Program
- Opportunities to use the work currently underway in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Union, and Canada, and
- IHPV chemical clusters that EPA develops for discussion.
The next phase will include a sponsorship approach similar to the HPV Challenge Program where companies commit to make data results available to the public for certain chemicals or chemical categories. If a chemical does not have a sponsor, or if complete action by the sponsor does not occur, EPA will pursue test rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to ensure that it receives the submission of quality data sets.
EPA anticipates that the sponsorship phase will take two to three years to complete. Following this period, the Agency will begin assessing and prioritizing the inorganic HPV chemicals, which is currently being done for the organic chemicals that were identified from 2006 Inventory Update Reporting Rule (IUR) data. This assessment would apply the IUR exposure and use information reported on inorganic chemicals (an update of which will be received in 2011). After the high production volume chemicals, the next group to be reviewed and assessed will be moderate production volume inorganic chemicals. EPA solicited comments on its proposed approach to an IHPV Challenge Program.
For More InformationFor comments received from stakeholders, please visit docket number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2008-0807.