E.P.A. Outline Ammonia Assessment Accessible for Public Review / Outline assessment continues agency’s responsiveness to NAS recommendations

WASHINGTON - The E.P.A. today announced the release of its outline Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for ammonia. The outline assessment will be accessible for public review for 60 days and will be sent for independent expert peer review.

Ammonia is used in agricultural fertilizers, the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and explosives, water purification, household cleaners, as a refrigerant, and in many industries. Scientific studies show that ammonia can affect the respiratory system. The outline assessment includes an estimate of the amount of ammonia a person can inhale daily throughout a lifetime that is not likely to cause harmful health effects, which is less stringent than the current value for ammonia on IRIS.

The outline IRIS assessment for ammonia represents major progress for E.P.A. in implementing the April 2011 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommendations for improving IRIS assessments. The outline assessment uses a new streamlined document structure that is more transparent and clear; includes a template for describing the literature search approach; identifies the strengths and weaknesses of analyzed studies; and describes how E.P.A. applied their guidance, methods, and criteria in developing the assessment.

When the assessment is final it will be posted to the IRIS database. IRIS is a publicly accessible online database that provides high quality science-based human health assessments used to inform the agency's decisions on protecting public health and the environment.

The IRIS database contains crucial information on in excess of 550 chemical substances and their impacts on human health. Governments and private entities use data from IRIS in conjunction with exposure information to help characterize the public health risks of chemical substances. These characterizations are then considered in risk management decisions to protect public health.

More information about IRIS: http://www.epa.gov/iris

More information about the outline IRIS assessment for ammonia: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/iris_drafts/recordisplay.cfm?deid=200305

More information about enhancements to IRIS: http://www.epa.gov/iris/process.htm

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