January 16, 2019
Toxics Use Reduction Institute Science Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
January 16th, 2019
Saltonstall Building – 2nd Floor, 100 Cambridge Street, Boston
12:30 PM
Members present: David Williams (Chair), Robin Dodson (Vice-chair), Hilary Hackbart, Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Denise Kmetzo, Margo Newman, Heather Lynch, Chris Rioux, Ken Weinberg
Members not present: Christy Foran, Amy Cannon
Program staff present: Liz Harriman (TURI), Heather Tenney (TURI), John Raschko (OTA), Rich Bizzozero (OTA), Maia Rodriguez-Semp (OTA), Tiffany Skogstrom (OTA), Lindsey Pollard (TURI)
Others present: Katherine Robertson (MCTA), Trisha McCarthy (Coyne Legislative Services for ACC), Erin DeSantis(ACC), Renee Lani (ACC), Paul Sutton (Golder Associates)
Welcome and Introductions
Program Updates
- C1-C4 Halogenated Hydrocarbons and Halocarbons Not Otherwise Listed (C1-C4 NOL) regulatory package has been promulgated.
- Alternative to (higher hazard) Methylene Chloride-based paint strippers that was developed at UMass Lowell has been licensed to a company and they hope to have it available in retail stores sometime soon.
- TURI has jobs posted for an EHS Specialist, Training Specialist, and UMass Lowell has an Environmental Health Faculty posting which would include a leadership role at TURI.
- A new TURI report, Athletic Playing Fields: Choosing Safer Options for Health and the Environment , which focuses on artificial turf and safer alternatives for playing fields has been completed and was circulated. A companion document on playground surfacing is available on the TURI website. This work was in response to many inquiries that TURI has received from communities about artificial turf materials.
- An article in The Conversation (http://theconversation.com/us) regarding garment wet cleaning was circulated.
- TURI’s Continuing Education conference will be April 4th in Devens.
- EMS Trainings will be held in February.
- Champions of Toxics Use Reduction event will be held June 13th.
- Northeastern University will be holding a PFAS conference June 10-12th.
- Materials received on previous PFAS recommendations:
-ACC and the Fluorocouncil submitted comments on the Draft PFAS Summary Document the first week of December. The comments and the 10 accompanying documents were added to the LibGuide at that time. Handouts of the comments were distributed at the meeting and members were given the opportunity to add discussion of these to the agenda of the next meeting if they felt additional discussion was warranted.
-ACC updated that two of the accompanying documents (Luz and Anderson) that were previously in submission are now published and available open access.
-ACC and the Fluorocouncil have agreed to present a webinar to discuss the uses and degradation products of PFAS. It will be hosted by IC2 (The Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse) and TURI, and is scheduled for January 30th 12-2. Heather will send further info.
Minutes
The October minutes were unanimously approved (9 in favor).
Heather updated that she checked the Open Meeting Law and with the Open Meeting Law office and all members may approve the minutes of meetings, including members did not attend that previous meeting.
GenX Chemicals (including Hexafluoropropylene Oxide (HFPO) Dimer Acid and Its Ammonium Salt (CASRN 13252-13-6 and CASRN 62037-80-3)
The EPA HERO site provided access to approximately 20 peer-reviewed studies and 100 DuPont Technical Reports. A bibliography of these studies and reports was added to the LibGuide. Additionally, EPA published a Draft Toxicity Assessment for GenX in November. These two resources were a helpful starting point for GenX. Key studies from both were added to the LibGuide and members were invited to request others.
Endpoints of concern for the previous PFAS were added to the whiteboard and members were invited to comment on endpoints of concern for GenX.
GenX Concerns (from White Board):
Persistence – persistent. No biodegradation observed, stable. >6 mos in air, water, soil, sediment (EPA)
Not removed in waste treatment, doesn’t partition to soil
Bioaccumulation – little potential in fish
Mobility – long range transport could occur (significant vapor pressure)
Toxicokinetics (animal/oral) – excreted in urine. ½ Life (Gannon) differences in sex and species, peaks and variability. Can be transferred to fetus in utero, not breastmilk.
Liver – Why use males for critical study endpoint (DuPont 2010)?
Necrosis NOAEL 0.1mg/kg/day & liver weights at that dose
Further review *other points in that study show effects at that dose?
DuPont chose it for the NOAEL then EPA used it. BDM
Developmental/Repro – 2 studies mouse/rat ↓pup weight rat, 14th rib
Question on study in which 37 failed to mate
Immunotoxicity – Rushing ’18 ↑liver weight and peroxisomal proliferation
Cancer – liver cancer. Netherlands RIVM Category 2 Suspected human carcinogen, liver
It was noted that GenX is persistent - no biodegradation is observed. GenX is stable in air and all media. It doesn’t adsorb to soils and is water soluble.
A lot of variability was noted for toxicokinetics. Half-lives were non-linear and there was variation for sex and species.
For the liver endpoint, it was questioned why they used the critical study endpoint cited in the EPA draft toxicity document. 0.1 is listed as the NOAEL, even though there were 3 instances in males and 1 in females where effects were seen at that dose. 0.1 was the lowest dose studied. Benchmark Dose Modeling was used.
For developmental and reproductive effects there were two animal studies. Decreased coupling was noted and other effects were seen in rats. Missing uteri were reported in one of the studies.
RIVM called it a Category 2 suspected carcinogen and called for more research.
It was decided that after this overview look at GenX, members would split up the endpoints for deeper review and continue discussion of GenX next time.
A member asked if it is helpful to report on the balance of what was seen (for example both positive and negative studies). It was noted that reporting on both positive and negative results is helpful.
GenX is the fluoropolymer manufacturing process DuPont/Chemours developed as an alternative to the PFOA-based process. The dimer acid can be and is used by others. ADONA is a polyfluoroether chemical manufactured by 3M.
Phosphonic and Phosphinic Acids
There were two articles on the LibGuide for Phosphonic and Phosphinic Acids. Wang 2016 is a Comparative Assessment of hazards of Phosphonic and Phosphinic acids and De Silva showed phosphinic acids in northern pike, cormorants, and dolphins in relation to other PFAAs. These two articles are meant to be beginnings for PFPA and PFPiAs. There is not a lot of other information. TURI will work on gathering additional information on these substances.
PFAS Precursors and Range of Substances
The Gen X dimer acid processing aid is only manufactured by Dupont (now Chemours); it is their solution to eliminating C8 in fluoropolymer processing. We would have to get information on ADONA, the 3M polyfluoroether product, from 3M.
The items in the PFAS Precursors and Range of Substances box were reviewed. OECD links have been updated to include the 2018 OECD Summary and a link to the OECD spreadsheet of PFAS substances. The Zurich paper submitted by ACC is also there.
The webinar scheduled for January 30th was discussed. ACC and the Fluorocouncil will cover uses and degradation products of PFAS. Buck 2011 would be useful to review beforehand – it is on the LibGuide.
A member located a paper outlining a prioritization approach for 75 PFAS. This paper was distributed to the group and will be added to the LibGuide.
Finally, there was a short discussion about other future work for SAB. Flame retardants and nanomaterials are of interest when the PFAS work is complete.
Next meeting
March 27 at 12
Handouts
-Fluorocouncil 2018: Fluorocouncil Feedback Letter
-Human Health Toxicity Values for Hexafluoropropylene Oxide (HFPO) Dimer Acid and Its Ammonium Salt (CASRN 13252-13-6 and CASRN 62037-80-3) Public Comment Draft (EPA 2018), summary pages
-An Oral (Gavage) Reproduction/Developmental Toxicity Screening Study of H-28548 in Mice (Dupont 2010), summary pages
-A Chemical Category-Based Prioritization Approach for Selecting 75 Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) for Tiered Toxicity and Toxicokinetic Testing