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21 o A s u UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
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JUN 2 0 2006
THE ADMINISTRATOR
Dr. M. Granger Morgan
Chair, Science Advisory Board
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta
Chair, PFOA Risk Assessment Review Panel
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Dear Drs. Morgan and Cory-Slechta:
Thank you for sending me the Science Advisory Board Perfluorooctanoic Acid Risk
Assessment Review Panel's report on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Draft Risk
Assessment of Potential Human Health Effects Associated with Perfluorooctanoic Acid and Its
Salts. EPA appreciates the Panel's work in conducting a peer review of the preliminary risk
assessment to ensure that the Agency is on a reasonable path handling a number of difficult,
technical, and novel scientific issues that PFOA poses. The Panel's input will be extremely
valuable as we continue our efforts to develop a full and comprehensive assessment of the risks
associated with PFOA.
It has been nearly two years since the package of information that the Panel reviewed was
compiled, and since that time, a considerable amount of research has been completed by or is
presently underway at government and private research laboratories in the United States and
other parts of the world. Examples include researching the mode of action of PFOA — induced
liver toxicity, immunotoxicity, a cross -fostering developmental toxicity study, and
pharmacokinetic modeling in mice. In addition, additional biomonitoring data will soon be
available from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The Agency is working as expeditiously as possible to develop a better and more
complete understanding of the sources and pathways of exposure to PFOA, and it intends to
integrate this new toxicity testing and mechanistic data into the risk assessment as it becomes
available. EPA will seek a second SAB review upon completion of a final risk assessment.
Internet Address (URL) • http•/Awm ape gov
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Earlier this year, the Agency invited industry to commit to reducing its PFOA emissions
and product content level by 95 percent by 2010 and work toward elimination of emissions and
levels in products by 2015; therefore, the Agency has decided not to wait until it has all the
answers on PFOA. All of the major companies involved in the manufacture and use of PFOA
have formally committed and have joined the Agency in this effort. The companies include
Arkema, Asahi, Ciba, Clariant, DaWh, DuPont, 3M/Dyneon, and Solvay Solexis.
Again, I appreciate the work of the SAB and the PFOA Panel in carefully reviewing this
preliminary draft risk assessment and look forward to working with the you again when we have
a final draft assessment.
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