Document 0g34L68KMJ7zw51VewYVobXZM

PATTON BOGGS, i_.L.P. 3550 M STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON. D.C, 20037-1330 (202) -457-6000 WRITER'S DIRECT DIAL (202) 457-5270 February 23,1996 Hasmukh C. Shah, Ph.D. Manager, Vinyl Chloride Panel Chemical Manufacturers Association 1300 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, VA 22209 Re: Vinvl Chloride Risk Assessment Dear Has: Enclosed is a recent BNA article indicating that vinyl chloride is among 12 substances whose risk assessments will be updated on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). According to the article, an upcoming notice will request health effects information on these substances With best regards, Sincerely Enclosure \A , ... . II CMA 115845 FEB-15-1996 13:08 t* UISTft SFTY, H_TH & ENUIR P.002/082 inf to a report released Feb. 1 by a business group. Compa nies form alliances witb environmental advocates for a vari ety of reasons, according to the report by The Conference Board, a New York-based research organisation. These In clude achieving legal, regulatory, budgeting, marketing, or business development goals or for public relations. The re port is partly baaed on Interviews with 100 senior executives, Leticia Ortl, research associate at the group, told BNA. The report, Environmental Alliances: Critical Factors for Success (Report No. 134-95-RR), is available from Tbe Conference Board, 845 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022-6879; telephone (212) 759-0800. IRIS Review Set For 12 Chemicals Tbe risk assessment information on a group of 12 chemi cals, Including pesticides, metals, and Industrial chemicals, will be reviewed in a pilot project aimed at upgrading the Integrated Risk Information System, an Environmental Pro tection Agency official said Feb. 5. The dozen chemicals were picked for IRIS, a public database, because they are contami nants in soil, air, and watar. or because a significant amount of new chemical test data have become available, according to Vanessa Vu, deputy director of EPA'i Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics Health and Environmental Review Division. EPA will review and update entries on arsenic, bentazon, beryllium, chlordane, chromium*6. chromium**, cumene, methyl methacrylate, methylene diphenyl isocyan ate, naphthalene, tributyl tin oxide, and vinvl chloride. Vu said. IRIS contains cancer and noncancer health hazard information on more than 500 chemicals. Ozone Depletion Caused By CFCs, Scientists Say New satellite data confirm that stratospheric ozone deple tion in recent years is caused by ehlorofloorocarbons and not by other chemicals that are released by humans or volcanoes, according to a report in the Feb. 8 Nature magazine. "The inescapable conclusion is that tbe depletion is caused by continued use of the CFCs." said tbe report by two scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and two researchers from the University of California-Irvlne. Chlorine is the only element in CFCs that breaks up ozone molecules, tbe report stated. The researchers said four years of satellite data show conclusively that releases of CFCS Into the atmosphere are responsible for the increase in recent years of chlorine levels in the stratosphere. Natural and other human-caused emissions of chlorine-containing compounds cannot account for this rise in stratospheric concentrations of chlorine, they added. Watershed Approach Coaid Improve State Consistency Consistency among states' discharge permitting programs probably will improve as tbe Environmental Protection Agency moves toward waUnhed-bascd rotations to pollution problems, the General Accounting Office reported Feb. 2. GAO said waste water discharge controls on similar types of facilities vary aignificantly from state to state. The report listed several examples of situations when differences be tween discharge limits became an Issue of concern. Including an instance in 1995, when an Industrial facility challenged a Pennsylvania limit for arsenic that was 2,500 times more stringent than one used in neighboring New York state. Copies of tbe report, Water Pollution; Differences Among the States in Issuing Permits Discharge of Pollutants (GAO/RCED-96-42), are available from GAO, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg, Md. 20884-6015; telephone (202) 512-6000. LEGAL AND ENFORCEMENT BRIEFS Order To Cease Mining Operation Upheld In Oklahoma An Oklahoma mining company w as properly ordered to cease operating after it was unable to ensure that surface water leaving Its coal mining and reclamation sites complied with acidity limits in its mining permit, the Oklahoma Su preme Court ruled Jan. 23 (P&K Co v. Oklahoma Depart ment of Mines, Okla SupCt, No. 75,778,1/23/96). Tbe state Supreme Court found it was immaterial that some of the acidic runoff leaving P&K Co.'s site stemmed from nearby abandoned mines. The court also determined that tbe alleged)y high costs of the equipment required to treat the acidic runoff could not be used to defend against tbe state's adminis trative cessation order. The state has taken the position tbat surface mining should not be allowec if reclamation is infea sible. tbe court said, adding that PAR was aware of ground water contamination and economic rangers associated with Us mining plan before it commenced its operations. STATE NEWS AND ENFORCEMENT IN BRIEF Rule On Ozone Depleters Stayed Three Months Tbe Environmental Protection Agency on Jan. 31 an nounced a three-month "stay and reconsideration" of a re porting requirement under the Clean Air Act affecting im porters of used ozone depleting substances (61 FR 3316). To import used compounds (Class 1 ozone depleters), the import er must undergo a 15-day petition process with EPA before the product is shipped. The petition contains information to allow EPA to verify that the product was used previously as opposed to being virgin stock. In a separate notice, EPA proposed a temporary extension of tbe stay that would apply in the event tbat the agency does not complete its reconsider ation in three months. Comments on tbe action must be sent by March 1 to the EPA Air Docket, Docket No. A-92-13, Waterside Mall. EPA. 401 M St. S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. More information can be obtained from Tom Land in the EPA Stratospheric Ozone Division at (202) 233-9165. Massachusetts Clean Site Initiative Enforced BOSTON--In an action taken under Massachusetts' Clean State Initiative, the Massachusetts 3ay Transportation Au thority agreed Feb. 2 to take immediate action to clean up petroleum contamination at a bus garage in Medford, Mass. (Massachusetts v. Massachusetts Say Transportation Authority, Man SuperCt, No. 96-0591, 2/2/96). Under the terms of a stipulation agreement approved Feb. 2 by Massa chusetts Superior Court Judge Herman J. Smith, MBTA agreed to clean up fuel oil and kerosene that allegedly leaked from underground storage tanks a: the agency's Fellsway Bus Garage. According to a complaint filed with the agree ment, the kerosene and fuel oil have allegedly contaminated soil, surface water, and ground water and have migrated to a nearby creek and river. Attorney General Scott Harshbarger had threatened to seek a preliminary injunction against MBTA unless Immediate action was taken. 2-9-96 Snt/t rO* 27^/ Copyrlgmc 1996 Dy Tnt Bureau of Nitional Affair*, Inc., Wuhtopton, D.C. OOtS-WI/M/tS+II.M - hefavvarif % /? 9b I/of. 2b 3f CMA115846 TOTAL P.002 02/06/96 15:35 02026795200 KIRKLAND-ELLXS 3)002/003 A - 6 (NO, 24) NEWS OEN 2-6-96 In November 1995 DOE and two private companies split their resources and repowered a vintage 1953 steam generator using clean burning coal, according to a DOE release. It is the most recent of 43 startup projects In DOE's Clean Coal Technology Program, according to Larry Joseph. DOE director of the Office of Clean Coal Technology. U.S. electric utility plants burned 617 million tons of coal in 1994, producing over 12 million tons of sulfur dioxide and over 5 million tons of nitrogen oxides, according to DOE's Energy Information Administra tion Both emissions are known to cause acid rain. To reduce these emissions while keeping coal as a viable energy source, DOE began the Clean Coal Technology Program. Begun in 1936, the department since has made 43 joint investments with industry in new coal burning technologies, amounting to |2.3 bil lion from DOE and $4.5 billion from private industry, Joseph said. The most recent project, in West Terre Haute, Indiana, is a <438 million project spilt evenly between DOE and two companies, Destec Energy Inc., and P$I Energy Inc. According to Joseph, DOE will be starting up two other projects this year, one in Reno, Nev,, and an other in Polk County, Fla. Emissions IS Times Below Requirements At the revamped plant, nitrogen and sulfur emis sions will be reduced "to e fraction of the Clean Air Act requirements for new plants," DOE said in the release. Marvin Brown, a communications manager for Destec, told BNA Feb. 5 that the facility "renders a product that 1$ 15 times lower thao the year 2,000 [CAA] amendment requirements." Joseph told BNA that the plant will remove over 90 percent of the coal's nitrogen emissions and over 96.5 percent of sulfur emissions. Conclusive figures were not yet available, but DOE will be monitoring data from the plant for three years to discover exact figures, Joseph said. The plant reduces emissions by removing sulfur from the coal and by burning gas converted from the coal, rather than burning coal directly, Brown said. The gasification process is the cutting'edge aspect of the new plant, but is "proprietary," Brown said. He would not discuss the process in detail. Sulfur is removed from the coal using a chemical process before gasification. Brown said. Two prod ucts are left over from the process -- pure sulfur and slag - and both are recycled in commercial markets; sulfur is sold for use in fertilizer and the slag for use in road construction, Brown said. This further decreases environmental waste, DOE said. Joseph said existing technology could remove 100 percent of sulfur from the coal, but the cost to do so would be prohibitive. 280,000 Potential Jobs Traditional coal plants can reduce polluted emis sions. but only after adding cleaning processes that are expensive and inefficient, Joseph said. Most meet CAA requirements by only using coal that is low in sulfur, which makes for cleaner emissions. But in Indiana the new technology "allows us to continue using high-sulfur coal from the local area, preserving Jobs and regional economies that depend on coal mining," said Hazel O'Leary, DOE's Secretary of Energy, in the release. About 300 jobs have been created as a result of the project, the release said. According to O'Leary, "the cutting edge technology demonstrated by plants such as this have the potential to create up to 280,000 new jobs for Americans." "Over the next 15 years, global power generation will be a <1 trillion market, forecasts suggest that the U.S. clean coal technology industry can capture a $200 billion share of that market and reduce pollution by tens of millions of tons each year," she added. Brown said that the new technology will let utilities burn gas even though they are not hooked up to natural gas lines. It will also be beneficial to utilities located in coal producing regions, he added. But for now the price of gas produced from coel is "not in line" with natural gas, Brown said. The three-year demonstration period will help Show whether or not the technology will be market able, Brown said. Joseph said the dean coal pro gram would probably end in about three or four years, after all new startup projects have been monitored for three years. -- By James Kennedy Risk Assessment PESTICIDES, METALS, INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS TO BS IN IRIS UPDATE PROJECT, OFFICIAL SAYS The risk assessment Information on a group of 12 chemicals--including pesticides, metals, and industri al chemicals--will be reviewed in a pilot project aimed at upgrading the Integrated Risk Information System, the project leader told BNA Feb. 5. The dozen chemicals were picked for IRIS, a public database, because they are contaminants In soil, air, and water, or because a significant amount of new chemical test data have become available to the Envi ronmental Protection Agency, according to Vanessa Vu, deputy director of the agency s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics Health anc Environmental Re view Division. F.PA scientists will review and update IRIS entries on: arsenic, bentazon, beryllium, chiordane, chromium +4t chromium *s, cumene, methyl methacrylate, methylene diphenyl isocyanate, naphthalene, tributyl tin oxide, and vinyl chloride, Vu said. Among the substances for which new data are available is cu mene, she added. The pilot project was designed to implement im provements called for In a July 1994 quality action team report on external peer review and public in volvement in IRIS- The scientific integrity of the database and EPA's process for managing it also have drawn congressional attention in recent regulatory relief proposals. Copyright 1996 by THE BUREAU OS NATIONAL AFFAIRS. INC., Washington, D.C. 80037 tOSO-8979/eS/SO- SO CMA 115847 02/0696 IS:36 2028795200 KIRKLAND-ELLIS <2)003/003 2-6-96 DEN NEWS (NO. 24) A-7 EPA To Sook Data From Chemical Makers A forthcoming Federal Register notice from EPA will ask chemical makers to provide health effects data voluntarily on these chemicals to aid the IRIS pilot project, Vu said. Several companies provided this type of information in response to Feb. 25, 1993, Federal Register notice on IRIS, she said. The IRIS database contains cancer and non-cancer health hazard information on more than 500 chemi* cals. The publicly accessible database has information relevant to two of the four parts of a risk assess ment-hazard identification and dose-response Infor mation. It is often consulted by state regulatory agencies, environmental consultants, and EPA region al offices. IRIS was created in 1986 to provide a resource of consistent chemical-specific risk informa tion that could be used throughout EPA. At the end of the year-long pilot project, EPA plans to have for each of the 12 substances an updated reference dose, reference concentration value, and cancer potency estimate, v said. The non-cancer risk measurements, known as the reference dose and ref erence concentration value, are estimates of the level of a substance that a person could be exposed to over a lifetime without suffering adverse effects. The pilot project will employ a revised process for adding and reviewing information in IRIS that in cludes varying levels of external peer review, Vu said. If the new process works, EPA expects to adopt the approach to managing the database, she sald.D Water Pollution CLEAN WATER ACT CITIZEN SUIT NOT BARRED BY DEADLINE extensions Georgia's repeated extensions of the compliance deadline in a company's Clean Water Act dis charge permit allow a citizen suit to enforce the ermit limits, a federal district court ruled Dec. 0 (Culbertson v. Coats American Inc., DC NGa, No. 94-CV-135-WCO, 12/21/95), The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted summary judgment to property own ers downstream from Coats American Inc. The court held that the company had violated discharge limits for zinc and copper despite the state's extensions. The court also granted the property owners summary judgment that Coats American was In violation of a Georgia rule prohibiting discoloring discharges that interfere with legitimate water uses. The court said observance of the rule was a discharge permit requirement. the unpermitted discharges came from Coats American's textile facility in Stephens County, Ga., into Eastanollee Creek in Toccoa, Ga., according to the court. The state issued permits in 1988 and 1992 limiting the amounts of zinc and copper the company could discharge. But the state subsequently extended the compliance deadlines so that Coats American nev er had to meet those discharge limits. The plaintiffs, who own land on Eastanollee Creek downstream from the facility, filed a citizen suit under the Clean Water Act as well as common law tort claims against Coats American and sought sum mary judgment. The district court ruled the citizen suit was not barred by the so-called Burford abstention doctrine, which protects complex state administrative pro cesses from undue federal court interference. It also ruled the suit was not barred for failure to exhaust administrative remedies where the plaintiffs bad com plied with the citizen sui'. provision's 60-day notice requirement. Nor was the suit precluded by a state administra tive action where the state had not diligently prosecut ed the company under the act, but instead offered it a series of deadline extensions. A Georgia Superior Court order granting a deadline extension also did not preclude the citizen suit because only judicial actions requiring compliance bar such suits, the court said. the court declined to grant either side summary judgment on the issues of state Instream water quality standards, temperature violations, or visible foam violations because of factual disputes on those issues. The district court also ruled that plaintiffs' negli gence, strict liability, trespass, and nuisance claims under Georgia law were not barred by the state statute of limitations. The alleged common law viola tions were continuing acts, the court said, and each new act gave rise to a new cause of action, the court concluded. Germany GERMAN WASTE SITES, INCINERATORS OPERATING AT ONLY 65 PERCENT CAPACITY D0SSELDORF--German waste sites and inciner ators Operated at only 65 percent of capacity in 1995. according to figures released Jan. 30 by the Federal Waste Management Association (BDE). A BDE spokesman told BNA there has been a "dramatic drop" in the volume of both commercial and private household waste and that operators of waste sites and Incinerate rs "are now scrambling to find waste to keep operating." The drop, according to the BDE spokesman, is attributed largely to two factors: Germany has one of Europe's largest recycling networks for commercial and household waste; and tne recession of the previous years has slowed down production, thus generating leu waste. On top of this, Germany continues to export waste to countries, primarily in Eastern Europe and Asia, which have lower labor costs and fewer emission regulations. Also, industries such as chemicals and power generation have expanded into the waste man agement sector, adding more capacity to the market. Consequently, experts say, Germany now has an over supply of waste disposal facilities, which has put pressure on prices. The Rhine Westphalia Economic Institute and the Waste and Restoration Association of North Rhine Westphalia have compiled price-per-ton averages for several types of waste: DM10 to DM60 (USg6.90'$4l.50) per ton for both energy and construc- Copyrlgm 1996 oy THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS, INC., Washington, 3.0 20037 1060-2974/91/10-- .50 CMA 115848 1292 CHEMICAL REGULATION REPORTER The product managers listed above may be contacted by mail at EPA's Registration division (7S0SC) at the address given above. Research FIRST RESULTS OF MERCURY STUDY ANTICIPATED BY EPA REVEAL NO MAJOR EFFECTS ON CHILDREN Preliminary results from one of two studies holding up the release of a major Environmental Protection Agency report on mercury indicate that high levels of the substance in infants do not appear to have significant neurotoxic effects, an author of the study said Feb. 7. The study, which looked at health data from several hundred mothers and children in the Seychelles Islands, is ongoing, according to Thomas Clarkson, head of the Depart ment of Environmental Medicine at the University of Roch ester. Clarkson told BNA. however, that results of tests on children under 30 months of age that were exposed to methylmercury are "very encouraging." The Seychelles Is lands are in the Indian Ocean north of Madagascar. `The bulk of the evidence shows the kids are doing fine,1 Clarkson said. He said tests conducted by neurologists on the children have, so far, not revealed the same impacts seen in previous mercury studies, such as delayed brain develop ment or, in some cases, brain damage. It is too early to draw final conclusions from the study, however, Clarkson said. He added that researchers have to assess a "mountain of data" collected on the children as they grew older. Portions of the study were published in the Feb. 7 issue of the journal Neurotoxicology. Concern about mercury from industrial pollution has prompted health advisories restricting fishing or fish con sumption, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences noted in a Feb. 7 news release. NIEHS provided funding for the Seychelles study through its extramural grants program. The study --which took place in a pilot phase followed by a second ongoing phase--looked at more than 1.450 children whose mothers eat an average of 12 fish meals each week. Researchers evaluated the children's mental and physical development. The average maternal hair mercury level was 6 parts per million, but 99 had levels as high as 36 ppm NIEHS spokesman Bill Grigg said Feb. 7. The journal articles discuss the results of the pilot study that followed more than 750 children from six months of age until they were five-and-a-half years old. Also described are early results from the ongoing, controlled, longitudinal study that has followed more than 700 children from age six months to two-and-a-haif years. The Environmental Protection Agency is awaiting the results of the Seychelles Island study, and a second study of residents of the Faeroe Islands near Denmark, to compare them with its own study on the health impacts of mercury. Required By Air Act EPA's study, which is required by Section 112(n) of the Clean Air Act, is complete, according to Martha Keating, of the Air Quality Strategies and Standards Division of EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, in Research Triangle Park, N.C. She said, however, that the document may be revised in light of the two pending studies. `We have to look at those before we release our *eport. ' she said. Both the Seychelles Islands and the Faeroe Islands studies focus on mercury levels in populations that have high amounts of fish in their diets. The Faeroe Islands study has not been published, according to Keating. The Seychelles study follows the development of children from birth through about six years of age, Clarkson said. He said the authors of the study have preliminary results from the first 30 months of these childrens lives. The remaining test results, through about five-and-a-half years of age, should be out this summer, he said. Given that EPA has received only the preliminary conclu sions from the Seychelles study, and no part of the Faeroe study, the agency does not have a schedule in place lor the release of its report to Congress, Keating said. She said the agency is in negotiations with the Sierra Club over an extension to a Dec. 15, 1995, court-ordered deadline for submitting the report to Congress (Sierra Club v. EPA, DC DC, No. 95-0627, 3/31/95). Attorneys for the Sierra Club could not be reached for comment. The Seychelles were chosen for the study because they contained a large fish-eating population that has been ex posed to high levels of mercury, Clarkson said. He said the average level of mercury found in mothers in the ^tudy a as between 6 parts per million and 7 ppm, compared to about 1 part per million found in the U.S. population. Other con founding factors, such as high levels of alcohol consumption or poor medical care, also were not an issue with the Seychelles population, Clarkson said. Clarkson said the mercury levels in the test populations for the Seychelles Island studies were determined through analysis of hair from the individuals studied. "The hair tells you what the blood levels are," he said. He said the researchers were able to determine prenatal levels of mercury in the children through analysis of the mother s hair, adding these numbers indicated the mercury levels in the child's brain at birth. Further. Clarkson said, researchers were able to confirm the correlation between mercury levels in the mother's hair and levels m the child's brain through a series of autopsies performed on infants that died from other causes. 'All previous studies have just assumed this is the case.' he said. -- By Alec ZacaroLi and Terry Hammond Risk Assessment PESTICIDES, METALS, INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS CHOSEN FOR IRIS UPDATE PROJECT, OFFICIAL SAYS The risk assessment information on a group of 12 chemi cals--including pesticides, metals, and industrial chemicals--will be reviewed in a pilot project aimed at upgrading the publicly accessible database known as the Integrated Risk Information System, the project leader told BNA Feb 5 The dozen chemicals were picked because they are con taminants m soil, air, and water, or because a significant amount of new chemical test data have become available to EPA, according to Vanessa Vu, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Pollution Pre vention and Toxics Health and Environmental Review Division. EPA scientists will review and update IRIS entries on arsenic, bentazon, beryllium, cblordane, chromium*6, chro mium*5. cumene, methyl methacrylate, methylene diphenyl j isocyanate, naphthalene, tributyltin oxide, and vinyl chlo- ,4- ride, Vu said. Among the 12 substances for which new data | are available j cumene, she added. The pilot project was designed to implement improve ments to the method EPA uses to add chemicals to the 2-9-96 Cooyngnt C 1996 by The Bureau of National Affairs, inc Di4*-r973/9/10~*i 00 CMA 115849 CURRENT REPORT 1293 database called for m a July 1994 report on external peer review and public involvement in IRIS The scientific integ rity of the database and EPA s process for managing it also have drawn congressional attention in recent regulatory relief proposals. EPA To Seek Date From Chemical Makers A forthcoming Federal Register notice from EPA will ask chemical makers to provide health effects data volun tarily on these chemicals to aid the IRIS pilot project, Vu said Several companies provided this type of information in response to a Feb 25. 1993, Federal Register notice on IRIS she said (58 FR 11490). IRIS was created m 1986 to provide a resource of consis tent chemical-specific risk information that could be used throughout EPA. The IRIS database contains cancer and non-cancer health hazard information on more than 500 chemicals The database has information relevant to two of the four parts of a risk assessment--hazard identification and dose-response information. The other two parts of a chemical risk assessment--an exposure assessment and risk characterization--are generated on a case-by-case basis by EPA officials. The database is often consulted by state regulatory agencies, environmental consultants, and EPA regional offices. At the end of the year-long pilot project, EPA plans to have for each of the 12 substances an updated reference dose, reference concentration value, and cancer potency estimate Vu said The non-cancer risk measurements, known as the reference dose and reference concentration value, are estimates of the level of a substance that a person could be exposed to over a lifetime without suffering ad verse effects A cancer potency estimate is the slope of the dose-response curve for a chemical. The pilot project will employ a revised process for adding and reviewing information in IRIS that includes varying levels of external peer review, Vu said. Historically, two groups of EPA scientists reviewed data and developed IRIS entries, with no public involvment or oversight. If the new process works, EPA expects to adopt the approach to man aging the database, she said (19 CRR 856). NEWS BRIEFS Comments On ITC's 37th Report Due March 4 Written comments and data on exposure and use of chemicals listed in the 37th Interagency Testing Committee report should be sent to the Environmental Protection Agen cy by March 4, according to a Feb. 2 notice (61 FR 4188). Chemical makers were asked to voluntarily provide expo sure and use data on nine high-production chemicals listed in the report and 10 isocyanates, according to the notice. The notice contained the text of the ITC's report, which was released Nov. 22, 1995. A group of 28 alkylphenols and alkylphenol ethoxylates were "recommended" for testing under Section 4 of the Toxic Substances Control Act in part because exposure to them results in reproductive or estro genic effects, according to the report (19 CRR 892). One copy of written comments should be sent to John Walker, ITC director, EPA (7401), 401 M St. S.W., Washing ton, D.C. 20460. Six copies of written comments bearing docket number (OPPTS-41011) should be sent to the TSCA Public Docket (7407), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, room B-607. at the above address For more infor mation. contact Susan Hazen director, Environmental As sistance Division (202 554-1404 Copps Moved From Canadian Environment Ministry OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien shuf fled his Cabinet Jan. 25. moving Environment Minister Sheila Copps to the Ministry of Canadian Heritage and replacing her with Immigration Minister Sergio Marchi. Copps. who was a high-profile environment minister and considered a champion of environmental issues at Cabinet meetings, was responsible for a November 1995 interim order banning exports of polychlorinated biphenyls to the United States for disposal That order must be made perma nent or it will expire by Feb. 28 (19 CRR 891). The new environment minister, Marchi, was first elected to the House of Commons from Toronto in 1984 and served as the Liberal Party's critic for Immigration. Multiculturalism. Transport, and Labor. After the federal genera! elec tion in October 1993, Marchi was appointed minister of Citizenship and Immigration and to three Cabinet commit tees: treasury board, social policy, and program review. The moves were part of 20 changes to the 33-member Cabinet Chretien made to revitalize his government as it enters the second half of its mandate. RSPA Issues Materials Research Report A report or, Transportation Department initiatives to support research into advanced materials has been pub lished. DOT'S Research and Special Programs Administra tion announced Jan. 26. The report was designed to provide a consolidated listing of ongoing and future research projects supported by the agency to help foster materials technologies to improve the durability and reduce the costs of transportation vehicles, facilities, and infrastructure, according to the agency Op portunities for joint research also are listed in the report. Among the applications of advanced materials research are the use of composite materials to construct lighterweight and stronger containers to transport hazardous ma terials, according to RSPA. Single copies of the report are available from Technology Sharing Program, DOT, Subsequent Distribution Office. Ard more East Business Center, 3341-Q 75th Ave., Landover. Md. 20785 Texas To Study Health Effects Along Border AUSTIN, Texas--The Texas Department of Health is planning to open four offices along the Texas-Mexico border to focus on the unique health problems of the region, espe cially those linked to environmental factors, an agency official said Jan. 30. Glen Provest, associate commissioner of environmental and consumer health for the department, told BNA the staff in the border offices will be looking at industrial pollution, pesticides, household chemicals, and insecticides, as well as basic sanitation, as possible sources of health problems Within the next two months, the agency will open offices in El Paso, Laredo, Uvalde, and Harlingen, Provost said. He said the staff will serve as the "eyes and ears" for the entire department, monitoring for environmental exposures that may be contributing to health effects. In addition to the more common health problems like hepatitis, the border has seen a higher-than-usual incidence 2-9-96 Chemical Regulation Reporter 014S-7973/96/SO+S1.00 CMA115850 CHEMICAL ROUTE ENPERIHEMT SENCTH SPECIES TARGET HEAST TABLE 3: CARCINOGENICITY CANCER (SLOPE FACKN1 IEPA ORAL INHMATMM CROUP) (ag/Vs/day)1 CwFtHteqfV* VINYL CHLORIDE ORAL: DIET D00I RATS RAT 000075-01-4 UMB UK* TURNS TUMORS A 1.9E*0 IBIKI CCMMERT: WO WW, un fWJECF to OMWE. Rmk TOTS BRUT RISK) ORAL IWHLKTION REFEROUX (Vl)4 Meu m' ~' ' 5.<E-5 010368 IWHIMUM: IRIEMCTKEMT 1 OEM UT LfVtt INNS A 3.0E-I a.*-) 010EW7 1MULATTO* BUfQ COMMENT: SEE APPEND!! A-II, BOSE CONVERSIONS D MESSI. INHALATION OMIT *15X1 COMCHI: UNDER REVIEU, HUNK* SUBJECT TO OUNCE. GENERAL CONTENT: THE MOST KC8NTLV REVIEWED OUMHIITAITVE ltCITT VALUES LISTED HERE APPEAR IN EM DDCUKNTS PMMLISKB IN 1WU AND 19S5. USE Of THESE VALUES ON AN INTERIM SAMS WAS VALIDATED NT CUK {VBS/WJ. THE ASENCT IS AWARE TUT THESE VALUES DO DOT UKOWCRATE CONSIDERABLE INFORMATION TNAT IS MM AVAILABLE. SHE OFFICE OF HEALTH INN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT'S POSTTim IS TNAT THESE TTBUCITT VALUES DO NOT DEFLECT STATE-OF-TK-ART SCIENCE FOR VINYL CNLORKt. EPA MOW HRS IWltRMM. ANIMAL DATA. MOT AMMUBLE WHEN THE ORAL UNIT RISC WAS CttCULAIO, THAT HAT INFLUENCE THIS VALUE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TNAT HAT BE FACTORED INTO A REVISED OMSTIMTIVE TONICITY VALUE INCLUDES BATA ON I NOEASED SEIS1ITVTTT OBSERVED IN NOUNS ANIMALS AND DATA ON HETABKISH/PNMauaKINEnCS. A UNIT UK FOR AIR THAT CONSIDERS INFORMATION ON TOURS AEc EXPOSURE INCREASES WE RISK (I.E.. LOWERS TNE RISK SPECIFIC D05E> VT AT LEAST 3-FOLD. WE CONSIDERATION OF METABOLISM PHAftHAUKIKTICS WILL FURTHER INCREASE WE USE. OK THPIMLISHED PUTSIOUKICAULT-DASD PHARMACOKINETIC MODEL PREDICTION RESULTS IN A TOO-FOLD INCREASED RISK. O > S> Ol 00 CM IRIS. EPA'S IN[ECRATED RISK INFORMUIW STSTOT IS UFDATED HCNWLT. FURTHER IMFORMAT [OH: IRIS USER 'i (513) 569-775* 3-33