Bioavailability: New Scientific Visions for EPA Risk Assessment

1
Bioavailability New Scientific Visions for EPA
Risk Assessment

• Larry G. Reed
• National Institutes for Environmental Health
  Sciences
• Research Triangle Park, NC

2
Meeting Roadmap

• Why are we here?
• Emerging Science
• The NAS Study on Bioavability
• New Studies and Methods
• Sessions/presentations

3
Why are we here?

• Studies are providing new methods for assessment
  of bioavailabilitynew studies that may be less
  expensive but use techniques that have not been
  subject to rigorous reviews
• This is a meeting to address the technical
  questions associated with assessing bioavailabity
  
• We are here to gather information, to share
  information and see where there is technical
  agreement.

4
Emerging Science

• The NAS study on bioavailability discusses new
  tools for assessment and stresses the need to
  determine whether a test is appropriate for an
  application
• EPA is taking a pro-active role in developing its
  own metals decision framework a topic that will
  be discussed at the end of the meeting
• The tools for model validation will be useful in
  assessing research results to inform future
  decisions

5
This Conference

• Panel 1. Topic In Vivo and In Vitro Assessment
  of Bioavailability of Soil Lead
• Panel 2. Topic Validation and Quality Assurance
  of Predictive Models of Metals Bioavailability  
• Panel 3. Topic Characterization of Site
  Bioavailability of Metals (current focus is for
  site characterization of risk)
• Panel 4. Topic Bioavailability White Paper for
  the Metals Framework

6
Things to Consider

• We need to understand the science, recognizing
  the strengths and limitations of tools
• As science evolves, we should expect new tools
  and how to validate these tools