Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On December 12, 2011 the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Register published a 30-day public comment period notice in the Federal Register (76 FR 77234) for the Draft Vieques Report: An Evaluation of Environmental, Biological, and Health Data From the Island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.'' This comment period was published as closing on January 11, 2012 in error. The comment period will be open for 90 days and will close March 11, 2012.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA or Superfund), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), requires that ATSDR and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepare a Priority List of Hazardous Substances commonly found at facilities on the CERCLA National Priorities List (NPL). The Priority List of Hazardous Substances includes substances that have been determined to be of greatest public health concern to persons at or near NPL sites. CERCLA as amended also requires that the Priority List of Hazardous Substances be revised periodically. This announcement provides notice that a revised Priority List of 275 Hazardous Substances has been developed and is now available for download. CERCLA as amended also requires ATSDR to prepare and to periodically revise toxicological profiles on hazardous substances included in the priority list. Thus, each priority list substance is a potential toxicological profile subject, as well as a candidate for identification of priority data needs. In addition to the Priority List of Hazardous Substances, ATSDR has developed a Completed Exposure Pathway Site Count Report. This report lists the number of sites or events at which ATSDR is involved and wherein a substance has been found in a completed exposure pathway (CEP).

This notice announces the availability of the Toxicological Profile for Uranium (Update) for review and comment. These comments can include additional information or reports on studies about the health effects of uranium. Although ATSDR considered key studies for uranium during the profile development process, this Federal Register notice solicits any relevant, additional studies, particularly unpublished data. ATSDR will evaluate the quality and relevance of such data or studies for possible addition to the profile. ATSDR remains committed to providing a public comment period for this document as a means to best serve public health and our clients. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), Sec. 104(i)(3), [42 U.S.C. 9604(i)(3)], directs the ATSDR administrator to prepare toxicological profiles of priority hazardous substances and, as necessary, to revise and publish each updated toxicological profile.

ATSDR is initiating the development of its 25th set of toxicological profiles (CERCLA Set 25). This notice announces the list of proposed substances that will be evaluated for CERCLA Set 25 toxicological profile development. ATSDR's Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine is soliciting public nominations from the list of proposed substances to be evaluated for toxicological profile development. ATSDR also will consider the nomination of any additional, non-CERCLA substances that may have public health implications, on the basis of ATSDR's authority to prepare toxicological profiles for substances not found at sites on the National Priorities List. The agency will do so in order to ``* * * establish and maintain inventory of literature, research, and studies on the health effects of toxic substances'' under CERCLA Section 104(i)(1)(B), to respond to requests for consultation under section 104(i)(4), and to support the site- specific response actions conducted by ATSDR, as otherwise necessary.