February 12, 2014
Toxics Use Reduction Institute Science Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
February 12, 2014
DEP Boston, Conference Room A
12:00 PM
Members present: Dave Williams (Chair), Martha Mittelstaedt, Amy Cannon, Larry Boise (Vice-Chair), Hilary Hackbart, Christine Rioux
Others present: Mary Butow (TURI), Liz Harriman (TURI), Heather Tenney (TURI), Carol Rowan-West (DEP), John Raschko (OTA), Dave Wawer (MCTA), Robert Barter (ExxonMobil Biomedical Science), Tsedash Zewdie (DEP), Margaret Gorman (ACC)
Members not present: Ken Weinberg, Robin Dodson, Igor Linkov
Welcome and Introductions
Program Updates
• TURI is holding their CE Conference, Thursday, April 3.
• Policy Analyses are currently in process for recent SAB recommendations: nPB, Certain Halogenated Compounds, and Ethyl Acetate.
• The Methylene Chloride one-page fact sheet is published and was circulated at the meeting.
• Information was circulated to the Board on: the current Community Grantees; FY14 Academic Research grants; and the ChemGenes case study.
Approve December Meeting Minutes
Vote: Approved: 5 in favor.
Note: The flip chart notes in the minutes from December were approved as recorded. The separate flip chart notes file has however been revised to reflect the study source, further study details and includes a couple corrections. The Board would like to review the flip chart notes in their final format.
CERCLA Categories: Phthalate esters
Flip chart notes were transcribed from the December meeting. Discrepancies in the notes were noted and study details were clarified. Comments from the Board and notes from the groups assigned to individual chemicals were requested.
New documents referenced in the December meeting were added to the Library Guide. Also posted to the Guide are the documents submitted by BASF, and information from the California Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment regarding the addition of DINP to the Proposition 65 list as a carcinogen.
The phthalate ester summary document draft was distributed to the Board for discussion. This document is the beginning of a process to document the work the SAB has done reviewing information on phthalate esters. The format is modeled after the CPSC staff reports. It includes key documents considered by the Board and concerns identified during the process. There is a summary section for each substance, as well as a section for summary findings for the entire group of ortho phthalate esters at the end of the document.
TURI reviewed the sections of the report and highlighted areas that may need more work (and/or review by the Board). Heather will collect the matrices from the groups to populate the remaining chemical specific sections of the report. DEP noted that it was a good report and a nice format. They would like to see a glossary in the front of the report as there are many acronyms.
TURI will pull together each chemical specific section from meeting minutes and the flip chart notes and will then send them out to the groups for review. It was suggested to include a section that organized the chemicals by different endpoints (reproductive/developmental/liver/endocrine). It was also suggested to organize summary findings by carbon chain length. A Board member noted that the tables for each of the chemicals could be included as appendices to the document.
A Board member noted that perhaps they could separate the category using molecular weight ranges. This would alleviate the issue of mixtures. It was noted that rings could be an issue. They could be sorted by carbon chain length and molecular weight. Dr. Barter noted that a similar approach was taken in 2000 with the HPV report and that OECD also has a similar concept in terms of using the molecular weights to sort out the substances in the category.
Next steps:
• Continue developing the document in a similar format
• Collect matrices from each of the groups on the 10 phthalates
• Review sections of the draft with each of the groups
• Separate out and summarize by endpoint
• Finalize the spreadsheets to be added as appendices
• Send comment table to EM-BMS; Dr. Barter will send data on complex substances.
More Hazardous Substances Update
In 1999, the SAB categorized all substances that had been reported under TURA up until that point. 250 substances out of the 1,400 had been reported and were categorized. In addition, in the early 2000’s, the remaining 313 chemicals were also categorized, adding another 50 substances to the More Hazardous list. The 2006 Amendments said Higher Hazard Substances (HHS) should be designated from the More Hazardous List and that up to 10 per year could be designated. The SAB recommended 11 for designation in 2007. Seven HHS have been designated since 2006.
The program has brought the More Hazardous List to the Advisory Committee for policy input. Additional policy information (such as quantity of use, number of filers, how the substance is used and SVHC status) was added to the list and TURI is again consulting the SAB about it.
MDI is part of the Diisocyanate Category. TDI’s are reported separately. The Board can look at whether MDI is of similar toxicity to the rest of the Diisocyanate Category. Metals and their compounds and/or related substances ( e.g. the three TDI CAS numbers) should be kept together. It is very confusing from a reporting standpoint if one is reportable and another is not.
In summary, all of the substances on the More Hazardous List are worthy of being Higher Hazard Substances.
Motion to Adjourn
Next Meeting
Wednesday, April 30th, 12:30PM (tentative)
Handouts (limited copies available):
• TURI – Ortho Phthalate Esters Scientific Data Sorted by Carbon Chain Length (Excel Sheet)
• TURI – Reproductive Toxicity/Liver/Endocrine Table for Ortho Phthalate Esters by Carbon Chain Length (Endpoint sheet)
• TURI – Flip chart notes from December 2013 meeting
• TURI – Phthalate Ester Summary Document draft
• TURI – More Hazardous Substances List
• BASF – Presentation submitted on ‘Human Biomonitoring with Phthalate and Non-Phthalate Plasticizers’
• CA-OEHHA – Presentation on ‘Evidence on the Carcinogenicity of DINP’