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Letter of Intent for the Federal-State Toxicology and Risk Analysis Committee

  1. PURPOSE

    This letter of intent is issued for the Federal-State Toxicology and Risk Analysis Committee (FSTRAC) to describe and formalize the organizational structure and function for FSTRAC.

  2. AUTHORITY

    Although there is no specific legal mandate for FSTRAC, cooperative interaction between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the States is desirable and is in the public's best interest.

  3. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES OF FSTRAC ACTIVITIES

    The Committee's scope and objectives are to foster cooperation, consistency, and understanding of EPA's and different States' goals and problems in human health risk assessment particularly related to development and implementation of Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations and criteria.

    The Committee will foster scientific credibility and a common understanding (i.e., "harmonization") of EPA and State risk assessment policies, specifically policies related to establishing human health criteria for drinking water and surface waters. The Committee will maintain respect for the States' rights to establish water-related criteria at levels different from EPA.

  4. FSTRAC FUNCTIONS

    To meet FSTRAC objectives, EPA and States will exchange:

    1. research priorities and results,
    2. policy concerns regarding water-related human health risk assessment, and
    3. technical information (i.e., toxicity/exposure data and analysis, and methodologies and assumptions used for assessing risks).

    Sharing research, policy and technical information helps build collaborative partnerships between EPA and the States and helps ensure that technical analyses are up-to-date and scientifically defensible, that common priorities are set for future work and research, and that EPA and States are not performing duplicate work and research.

    Specific ongoing and /or current FSTRAC activities include, but are not limited to: sharing experiences in assessing/managing water contamination incidents, maintaining a database of existing state and federal standards and guidelines and contact persons; recommending regulatory and guidance priorities, including which chemicals should be considered for future criteria development; review and/or prepare position paper on different methods of estimating exposure from volatilization or dermal adsorption; review and/or prepare position paper on risk models on effects from multi-chemical exposure; review and/or prepare position paper on improved methodologies for using toxicology data in risk assessments; and development and update of an internet site.

  5. MEMBERSHIP/COMPOSITION

    Membership recruitment is generally focused on federal or state personnel having an interest in human health risk assessment related to the SDWA and CWA. Almost all of the Committee is expected to be comprised of the EPA Office of Water's Health and Ecological Criteria Division staff, regional EPA program staff, and respective State agency staff who are involved in water-related programs (i.e., drinking water, surface water, groundwater). FSTRAC will also maintain an "open door" policy of membership to interested non-federal and state personnel.

    Committee meetings will generally include status reports on EPA Headquarters and Regional/State activities, development and discussion on new and ongoing FSTRAC activities, and information transfer on "hot topics" of concern.

  6. MEETINGS

    Meetings will generally be held twice each year. As much as possible, ongoing FSTRAC activities should be accomplished through tele-conferences. Meetings will generally be held in Washington, D.C. in the fall and in a variable Regional/State location in the spring.

  7. DURATION

    Membership will be continued and the Committee will remain active as long as various parties continue to gain mutual benefits from FSTRAC activities.

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