IRIS Public Stakeholder Meeting (Nov 2012)

On November 13, 2012, EPA held a meeting in Arlington Virginia to hear the views of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program from the public and interested stakeholders about changes that are underway to improve the IRIS Program.

Committed to proactively engaging stakeholders, EPA is increasing transparency, and using the best available science to develop these assessments. This public meeting was the beginning of an ongoing dialogue about IRIS with open public participation. Environmental protection decisions, based in part on EPA's IRIS assessments, can have potentially large impacts on the environment, human health and the economy. Because of this, it is important that EPA benefit from stakeholder and scientific engagement to support the best decisions possible.

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Meeting Details

Cover of the Final Summary Report from the IRIS Stakeholders Engagement Meeting Nov 2012 — Click to download the final summary report from the IRIS Stakeholders Engagement Meeting Nov 2012

EPA convened a public stakeholder meeting at EPA’s Potomac Yards facility in Arlington, VA, and by webinar/teleconference. More than 450 individuals, from a wide variety of organizations from multiple sectors, participated in the meeting. Stakeholders provided comments on several aspects of the IRIS Program, including communication, transparency, throughput, trust, stakeholder engagement, and others.

A summary of the meeting, including information about stakeholders’ comments, is provided in the Summary Report for the IRIS Public Stakeholder Meeting (PDF) (11pp, 739Kb). This meeting was intended to be a first step in an on-going dialogue between the IRIS Program and stakeholders. Since that time, EPA has announced enhancements to the IRIS Process, which include increased opportunities for public and stakeholder dialogue. Information about upcoming public meetings is available on the IRIS website.

Meeting Agenda

Time	Description
12:30-1:00	Registration
1:00-1:05	Introduction and Overview of the Meeting Samantha Jones, PhD - Former NCEA-IRIS Division Associate Director for Science
1:05-1:10	Welcoming Remarks Glenn Paulson, PhD – Former EPA Science Advisor to the Administrator
1:10-1:25	Vision for the Future of IRIS Kenneth Olden, PhD, ScD, LHD - Former NCEA Director EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System Program
1:25-1:35	Recent Improvements in IRIS Vincent Cogliano, PhD - Former NCEA-IRIS Division Director Recent Improvements in IRIS
1:35-3:00	Panelist Views on IRIS Mary Fox, MPH, PhD - Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health IRIS for Environmental Public Health David Fischer, MPH, JD - Senior Director in the Chemical Products and Technology Division at American Chemistry Council IRIS Public Stakeholder Meeting Gloria Post, PhD, DABT - Research Scientist at New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection State Perspectives Richard Denison, PhD - Senior Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund EDF Comments for EPA Chuck Elkins, JD - President of Chuck Elkins & Associates Panel Presentation Linda Birnbaum, PhD, DABT, ATS - Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program
3:00-3:15	Break
3:15-5:00	Open Forum Participants Panelists Kenneth Olden, PhD, ScD, LHD – Former NCEA Director Lynn Flowers, PhD, DABT – Former NCEA Associate Director for Health Vincent Cogliano, PhD – Former NCEA-IRIS Division Director David Bussard – NCEA-Washington Division Director Annette Gatchett – NCEA-Cincinnati Division Director John Vandenberg, PhD – NCEA-RTP Division Director and Former National Program Director (NPD) for EPA’s Office of Research and Development’s Human Health Risk Assessment Program (HHRA)
5:00	Closing remarks and adjourn meeting