National Toxicology Program; Call for Public Comments on 9 Substances Proposed for Listing in or Delisting from the Report on Carcinogens, Tenth Edition

Background

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) solicits final public comments on additional agents, substances, mixtures and exposure circumstances for listing in or delisting from the Report on Carcinogens, Tenth Edition. This Report (previously known as the Annual Report on Carcinogens) is a Congressionally mandated listing of known human carcinogens and reasonably anticipated human carcinogens and its preparation is delegated to the National Toxicology Program by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Section 301 (b) (4) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended, provides that the Secretary, (HHS), shall publish a biennial report which contains a list of all substances (1) which either are known to be human carcinogens or may reasonably be anticipated to be human carcinogens; and (2) to which a significant number of persons residing in the United States (US) are exposed. The law also states that the reports should provide available information on the nature of exposures, the estimated number of persons exposed and the extent to which the implementation of Federal regulations decreases the risk to public health from exposure to these chemicals.

In 1999 and early 2000, nine substances were reviewed for listing in the Tenth Report. This review included two Federal and one non-government, scientific peer reviews and public comment and review. The three scientific review committees evaluated all available data relevant to the criteria for inclusion of candidate substances in the Report. The criteria used in the review process and the detailed description of the review procedures, including the steps in the current formal review process, can be obtained from the NTP Home Page web site at http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/ or by contacting: Dr. C. W. Jameson, National Toxicology Program, Report on Carcinogens, 79 Alexander Drive, Room 3217, P.O. Box 12233, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709; phone: (919) 541-4096, fax: (919) 541-2242, email: jameson@niehs.nih.gov.

Public Comment Requested

The nominated substances reviewed in 1999 and early 2000 are provided in the following table with their Chemical Abstracts Services (CAS) Registry numbers (where available) and the recommendations from the three scientific peer reviews of the nominations. The NTP will be making a final recommendation in 2001 for these nine substances for listing in, or changing the current listing from reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen to the known to be a human carcinogen category in the Tenth Report.

Background documents provided to the review committees and the public are available on the web in pdf version at the address above. Hard copies of these documents are also available upon request. The NTP will review the recommendations of each of the review committees and consider the public comments received throughout the process in making decisions regarding the NTP recommendations to the Secretary, DHHS, for listing of the nominated substances in the Tenth Edition of the Report on Carcinogens. The NTP solicits final public comment to supplement any previously submitted comments or to provide comments for the first time on any substance in the following table. Comments will be accepted through June 5, 2000. Comments or questions should be directed to Dr. C. W. Jameson at the address listed above.