Improved communication among groups Transparency in development of products

2. Guiding Principles of the Alliance • Improved communication among groups • Transparency in development of products • Harmonization and consistency in risk assessments • Shared costs and human resources

3. Alliance for Risk Assessment (ARA) Stakeholder Process Alliance “Menu” Options States, Fed. Agencies, Public Interests, Industry Steering Committee ARA Manage-ment Team Risk Document Development Initiation of Risk Issue Training and Certification Non-profit Collaborators Risk Information Exchange (RiskIE) Risk Communication Document Draft Risk Research And Tools Peer Reviews Peer Review & Consult ITER Release to Public

4. RiskIERisk Information Exchangewww.allianceforrisk.org/RiskIE.htm • A Database to Communicate In-Progress Risk & Toxicity Assessments • Includes over 5500 projects being conducted by more than 27 organizations representing 13 countries • Scheduled to join NLM’s TOXNET in 2008

5. http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov

6. For More Information For more information Phil Wexler wexlerp@mail.nih.gov www.nlm.nih.gov Chuck Tomlijanovic chuck-t@ctc.com http://www.ctc.com/ Andrew Rak andrew.rak@noblis.org www.noblis.org Oliver Kroner kroner@tera.org www.tera.org Please visit www.allianceforrisk.org Or contact the collaborators:

7. Extras Slides

8. ARA Steering Committee A balance of Federal, State, and Tribal governments, Environmental NGOS and non-profits, and Academia. • Anita Meyer, United States Army Corps of Engineers • Barbara Harper, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation • Bette Meek, University of Ottawa • Edward Ohanian, United States Environmental Protection Agency • Michael Dourson, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) • Michael Honeycutt, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) • Phil Wexler, National Library of Medicine (NLM) • Ruthann Rudel, Silent Spring • William Hayes, State of Indiana

9. ARA Fund & Work Flow Steering Committee ARA Process Federal Agencies, Industry ARA Manage TEam Funded Projects States, Tribes, Environmental NGOs RiskIE Unfunded Projects ARA Non-Profit Collaborators ITER

10. ITER on TOXNET 13 records containing the word “arsenic” found in ITER

11. RiskIE Screenshot

12. Examples of ARA Projects • Risk Document Development: Relative Source Contribution for RDX for U.S. Army • Research: Dietary arsenic exposure from soil for State of Texas & Hawaii Department of Health • Peer Review: Review of 1,3-Butadiene Document Screening Level for Texas Commission on Environmental Quality • Tools: RiskIE & ITER • Training: Dose-Response Boot Camp

13. Case Study: Arsenic in Soil Hawai’i

14. StateHELP RiskIE

15. Meanwhile in Texas… RiskIE

16. StateHELP RiskIE

17. Does This Effort Duplicate Current Federal Efforts? • This effort does not duplicate ATSDR MRLs, EPA IRIS, FDA ADIs, Health Canada TDIs or RIVM TOCs. ARA supports existing risk values! • To the contrary,ARA shares resources to avoid duplication because: • It does not replace individual regulatory processes; ARA users tap in as appropriate. • Many risk values/issues will never be worked by federal groups. • Current federal approaches have resource limitations; thus, new chemicals addressed without duplicate effort. • Update of older values can benefit federal groups as one technical input to internal deliberations. • ARA goes beyond risk values/issues – it is also a shared resource for training and data communication.

18. Why Do Diverse Groups Fund? • ARA mission… • Aligns with many public health goals. • Provides value as a timely resource with enhanced credibility. • Allows stakeholder input. • Harmonizes risk values and methods. • Nonprofit corporations demonstrate concept can work (e.g., peer consultation with Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP) of EPA). • NLM & TERA success in building ITER; ~200,000 hits per month demonstrates likely value of ARA • Aligns with stated needs of stakeholders – e.g., Environmental Council of States (ECOS); Interstate Chemical Clearinghouse. 18

19. The Alliance for Risk Assessment provides: Credibility Projects are evaluated by the ARA Steering Committee, composed of a broad range of experts from various backgrounds and perspectives. The involvement of diverse interests: • enhances credibility • ensures careful consideration of all key data and ideas • provides thoughtful management of potential biases • indicates the importance of a project to the broader risk assessment community

20. The Alliance for Risk Assessment provides: Sharing of Resources The collaborative nature of the ARA centers on the pooling of resources. ARA participants benefit from access to: • Technical resources- ARA provides access to experienced scientists and experts not typically found within a single organization. • Financial Resources- For organizations with limited funding, ARA offers help covering the costs of a project, and will assist in identifying potential co-sponsors. • Information- ARA participants keep each other informed of their activity, creating opportunities for collaboration.

21. The Alliance for Risk Assessment provides: Exposure The ARA encourages the free-flow of information across organizations. Projects that utilize the ARA process will be transparently broadcast within the Risk assessment community via: • RiskIE- The Risk Information Exchange is a free internet database that tracks in-progress risk and toxicity assessments • ITER- The International Toxicity Estimates of Risk database lists chronic human health risk values • ARA Newsletter/Website- ARA maintains an up-to-date website with descriptions of ongoing projects. Newsletter updates are sent regularly to the risk assessment community