Table Of ContentIllinois Office of Chemical Safety
Environmental 2200 Churchill Road
Protection Agency P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
; 1363.1791
ILLINOIS DOCUMENTS
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C.3
I
MAR 2 * 1991
ILLINOIS STATE LIBRARY
TOXICITY
ASSESSMENT
UNIT
OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFETY
Printed on Recycled Paper
Illinois Environmental
On the order of 60,000 individual chemicals
are currently produced and used commer¬
cially. Each of them, therefore, may be a
potential environmental pollutant and pos¬
sibly an environmental hazard. Regulatory
agencies need to be knowledgeable
about the specific physical and chemical
properties which determine the behavior of
an individual compound in the environ¬
ment, its effects on plants and animals, and
the concentrations required to cause such
effects. Within the Illinois Environmental Pro¬
tection Agency (IEPA) this expertise is cen¬
tralized in the Toxicity Assessment (TAU) of
the Office of Chemical Safety. Other IEPA
staff consult with this unit whenever specific
information on the toxicological effects of a
chemical are needed. This brochure de¬
scribes the activities of and services avail¬
able through the Toxicity Assessment Unit.
PURPOSE
Environmental protection activities over the
last two decades have been marked by
ever increasing technical and scientific so¬
phistication in many areas. The analytical
abilities of chemistry laboratories have low¬
ered the detection limits for many chemi¬
cals from the parts per million range to the
parts per billion, parts per trillion, and in
some cases, into the parts per quadrillion
range. One part per quadrillion is akin to
taking a one second vacation after working
32 million years. Paralleling this increasing
capability in the laboratory has been im¬
provement in the technology involved in
pollution control. Thus, early efforts to rec¬
tify gross pollution problems, such as
"dead* lakes and streams, smog alerts, and
burning rivers, have evolved into efforts to
protect against less obvious environmental
hazards involving longterm effects. Meth-
Protection Agency - Office of Chem
ods used to determine the effects of chemi¬
cals on public health, public welfare, and TOXICOLOGY REPORTS
the environment have improved from dilu¬
tion is the solution to pollution' to the cur¬ TAU personnel provide document review
rent use of toxicological, pharmacological, and comment, project development input,
physiological, biochemical, biological, and expert assistance for major IEPA proj¬
physical, chemical, and statistical inputs ects. These projects require in-depth review
into the process of regulating toxic chemi¬ of technical reports related to potential en¬
cals. vironmental health threats. These include
remedial investigations, feasibility studies,
endangerment assessments, risk assess¬
REGULATORY SUPPORT ments, special use permits for pesticides,
and preliminary investigations and health
As the science of detecting and evaluating assessments prepared by Illinois Department
environmental contaminants becomes of Public Health.
more and more refined and exact, the
need increases for more sophisticated state
programs to regulate chemicals in the envi¬ CHEMICAL HEALTH EFFECTS
ronment. The Illinois Environmental Protec¬
tion Agency is responding to this need The Toxicity Assessment Unit is a source of in¬
through the development of new, or the formation on toxic chemicals for the private
revision of existing regulatory programs. and public sector. In response to informa¬
tion requests, the TAU either provides the
In a modern, industrially developed society, necessary information or, if appropriate, di¬
it is inevitable that environmental contami¬ rects questions to the proper sources.
nants will be released from industrial proc¬
esses, consumer end-use activities, and The TAU is continually developing and revis¬
waste disposal. New and revised regulatory ing a series of Chemical Information Sheets
programs must recognize differences be¬ which are summaries of available data re¬
tween chemicals with respect to toxicity garding the nature and health effects of
and likelihood to reach and affect plants, particular chemicals. These information
animals, or humans. The Toxicity Assessment sheets are distributed to the general public,
Unit has been an important resource to the press, etc. in an effort to communicate
authors of regulatory programs in identify¬ general information about particular chem¬
ing which chemicals to regulate and to icals. Chemicals covered by Chemical In¬
what degree. The TAU can provide infor¬ formation Sheets fall into the following cate¬
mation regarding each chemical's unique gories:
physical and toxicological properties. The
TAU has also been instrumental in providing • Volatile Organic Compounds (meth¬
guidance for chemical screening and ylene chloride, vinyl chloride, trichlo¬
evaluation methods which can be incorpo¬ roethylene, tetrachloroethyiene, ben¬
rated into the various state regulatory pro¬ zene, toluene, etc.);
grams. • Complex Organic Pollutants (polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlori-
noted biphenyls, dioxins, furans, etc.); TOXICOLOGY INFORMATION
• Metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, SOURCES
lead, etc.); and
• Pesticides (aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, The large number of potentially dangerous
etc.). chemicals and the potentially large popula¬
tions exposed to them result in a focus of at¬
Occasionally TAU must prepare in-depth tention on chemical hazards. Key to the
summaries of chemical, physical, and toxi¬ assessment of potential health and environ¬
cological data for specific chemicals in re¬ mental risks of chemical substances is ob¬
sponse to Agency needs. Such reviews are taining the necessary information about
not distributed to the general public, how¬ these chemicals. Gathering this information
ever. often requires searching many data sources
including books, journals, computerized
data bases, USEPA documents, data files,
TOXICITY IMPACT ASSESSMENTS etc. OCS has built up a toxicology informa¬
tion center that supports programs and
The TAU has developed a process for as¬ projects within the Agency, and occasion¬
sessing the possibility of adverse effects on ally for other agencies.
public health, public welfare, or the envi¬
ronment due to known or potential releases Information is available from standard print
of toxic substances into the environment. sources and on-line computer data bases.
The Toxicity Impact Assessment (TIA) process An example of an on-line data base used
provides decision-makers with an assess¬ by TAU is the Chemical Information System
ment of the nature and extent of a prob¬ (CIS), which is a collection of computerized
lem, allowing them to weigh the alterna¬ data storage and retrieval modules for
tives and select a course of action based chemical information. Chemical/physical
on the best information available at that properties, environmental fate, aquatic
time. It can be thought of as an expansion data, human toxicity, and regulatory ac¬
of what is more commonly called risk assess¬ tions are some of the areas covered. The
ment. This assessment process supports a TAU may also access all the data bases
number of IEPA activities, such as permitting, available from the National Library of Medi¬
setting of cleanup objectives, setting of cine such as Toxline, Chemline, Medline,
standards, and ranking of the potential ad¬ and Toxnet.
verse effects of specific chemicals and/or
facilities to prioritize Agency activities. TIA is The TAU may also access IRIS (Integrated
a means for providing specialized scientific Risk Information System). IRIS is a computer-
input into control division decision-making housed, electronically communicated
activities where more routine inputs may be catalogue of USEPA risk assessment and risk
insufficient. management information for chemical sub¬
stances. This system is designed especially
for federal, state, and local environmental
and health agencies as a source of the lat¬
est information about USEPA health assess¬
ments and regulatory positions for specific
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