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Summary Minutes of the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC)

Lead Review Panel

Public Teleconference

September 15, 2011

Date and Time: Thursday, September 15, 2011, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET

Location: Teleconference Only

Purpose: The purpose of the teleconference was to discuss the Panel’s draft letter on 

EPA’s Integrated Science Assessment (ISA).

Participants: CASAC Lead Panel (for full roster, see Attachment A)

Dr. H. Christopher Frey, Chair

Mr. George Allen

Dr. Herbert Allen

Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta

Dr. Cliff Davidson

Dr. Sean Hays

Dr. Philip Hopke

Dr. Chris Johnson

Dr. Susan Korrick

Dr. Michael Kosnett

Dr. Roman Lanno

Mr. Richard Poirot

Dr. Joel Pounds

Dr. William Stubblefield

Dr. Gail Wasserman

Dr. Michael Weitzman

Mr. Aaron Yeow, Designated Federal Officer (DFO)

Dr. John Vandenberg, EPA National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA)

Dr. Bryan Hubbell, EPA Office of Air Quality and Planning Standards

Other Attendees (See Attachment B)
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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Opening Remarks

Mr. Aaron Yeow, the DFO for the CASAC Lead Review Panel, opened the meeting. He noted 

that as required under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the Panel’s deliberations 

are held in public with advanced notice given in the Federal Register1, and the meeting minutes 

will be made publicly available after the meeting. He noted that the Panel did not receive any 

public comments and did not receive any requests for oral public statements. He also noted that 

the Panel members are subject to compliance with federal ethics regulations and conflict-ofinterest laws that pertain to them. He then turned the meeting over to Dr. Chris Frey, Chair of the 

CASAC Lead Review Panel.

Dr. Frey welcomed everyone and indicated that the purpose of the meeting was to review the 

Panel’s letter on EPA’s ISA2. He reviewed the Agenda for the meeting3, and turned it over to 

EPA for their remarks.

EPA Remarks

Dr. John Vandenberg, EPA NCEA, expressed EPA’s appreciation for the work undertaken by 

the Panel. He had one clarifying question regarding the Panel’s recommendation in the response 

to charge question #7 for EPA to evaluate nonpublished data, such as data generated for the 

European Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). He 

asked for the Panel’s clarification on how to go about doing that, noting the difficulty in 

obtaining as well as evaluating the quality of the data. He stated that doing so would represent a 

departure from what NCEA typically does, which is to evaluate only published, peer-reviewed 

data.

One of the panel members indicated that the data submitted to REACH have been reviewed for 

quality and data in the dossiers are peer reviewed according to the Clemish process. He indicated 

that at the July 20-21, 2011 meeting, the representative from the International Lead Zinc 

Research Organization (ILZRO) stated that industry would provide this data to EPA.

Dr. Bryan Hubbell, EPA OAQPS, discussed the Lead NAAQS process and schedule. He 

indicated during the spring 2012 CASAC meeting on the second draft ISA, EPA will brief the 

panel on aspects of the Policy Assessment Document (PAD) related to risk, such as aviation 

gasoline.

Response to Charge Questions

For the response to charge question 1, there was discussion regarding clarification of the Panel’s 

statement regarding high does in toxicology and/or in vitro studies. It was agreed that Dr. 

Davidson would provide some revised language to clarify the statement.

There were not many changes that needed to be made to the response to charge question 3, aside 

from minor editorial changes.
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For the response to charge question 2, there was discussion on providing further detail on what 

specific key features from chapter 5 were missing from chapter 2, as well as clarifying the 

Panel’s statement regarding clinical significance/magnitude of effects. Furthermore, there was 

discussion about how the causal framework was not applied well in the document and how the 

Panel’s response needs to make this point clear. It was agreed that Dr. Korrick, with input from 

Dr. Kosnett would make these revisions.

Dr. Kosnett mentioned some missing text that he provided to the lead author of the response to 

charge question 4 and agreed to send it again for inclusion. There was discussion about the 

definition of absorption and bioavailability and it was agreed to remove these definitions and 

recommend to EPA to clearly define these terms and use them consistently. It was agreed that 

Dr. Hays would make all the revisions discussed.

For the response to charge question 5, it was agreed to make the language pertaining to clinical 

significance consistent with the revisions that will be made to the response to charge question 2. 

There was discussion over item 8 on page B-13 regarding modes of action and it was agreed that 

Dr. Cory-Slechta and Dr. Kosnett would work on revised language to send to Dr. Wasserman, 

who would make all the revisions for the response to charge question 5.

Dr. Cory-Slechta agreed to revise lines 5-9 of p. B-16 to clarify the Panel’s statement regarding 

the document’s emphasis of various age groups.

Dr. Lanno agreed to make revisions to the response for charge question 7, incorporating the 

earlier discussion regarding REACH and to fully answer all the subquestions within the charge 

question.

Letter to Administrator

One member commented that perhaps the more minor comments could be excluded from the 

letter so that the major points are not buried. Another member mentioned that one major point 

that does not come through is that the causal framework was not adequately applied throughout 

the document. It was agreed that any revisions made to the response to charge questions would 

be reflected in the letter as well.

Dr. Frey discussed next steps and action items. With the business concluded, the Designated 

Federal Officer adjourned the meeting at 3:00 PM ET.

Respectfully Submitted: Certified as Accurate:

/Signed/ /Signed/

Mr. Aaron Yeow Dr. H. Christopher Frey

Designated Federal Officer Chair

EPA SAB Staff Office CASAC Lead Review Panel
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NOTE AND DISCLAIMER: The minutes of this public meeting reflect diverse ideas and 

suggestions offered by Panel members during the course of deliberations within the meeting. Such 

ideas, suggestions and deliberations do not necessarily reflect consensus advice from the Panel 

members. The reader is cautioned to not rely on the minutes to represent final, approved, consensus 

advice and recommendations offered to the Agency. Such advice and recommendations may be 

found in the final advisories, commentaries, letters or reports prepared and transmitted to the EPA 

Administrator following the public meetings.
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Materials Cited

The following meeting materials are available on the CASAC website: 

http://www.epa.gov/casac, at the September 15, 2011 CASAC Lead Review Panel Meeting page:

 

1

Federal Register Notice Announcing the Meeting

2 CASAC Review of EPA’s Integrated Science Assessment for Lead (First External Review Draft – May 2011)

3 Agenda for September 15, 2011 Public Meeting
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ATTACHMENT A - ROSTER

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee

CASAC Lead Review Panel (2010-2013)

CHAIR

Dr. H. Christopher Frey, Professor, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental 

Engineering, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

MEMBERS

Mr. George A. Allen, Senior Scientist, Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management 

(NESCAUM), Boston, MA

Dr. Herbert Allen, Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 

University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Dr. Richard Canfield*, Senior Research Associate, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell 

University, Ithaca, NY

Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta, Professor, Department of Environmental Medicine, School of 

Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

Dr. Cliff Davidson, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, 

Syracuse, NY

Dr. Philip E. Goodrum, Senior Project Manager, Environmental Resources Management 

(ERM), Dewitt, NY

Dr. Sean Hays, President, Summit Toxicology, Allenspark, CO

Dr. Philip Hopke, Bayard D. Clarkson Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemical and 

Biomolecular Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY

Dr. Chris Johnson, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , Syracuse 

University, Syracuse, NY

Dr. Susan Korrick, Assistant Professor of Medicine , Department of Medicine, Brigham and 

Women's Hospital, Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
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Dr. Michael Kosnett, Associate Clinical Professor, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and 

Toxicology, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, 

CO

Dr. Roman Lanno, Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Evolution, 

Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Mr. Richard L. Poirot, Environmental Analyst, Air Pollution Control Division, Department of 

Environmental Conservation, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Waterbury, VT

Dr. Joel Pounds, Scientist, Cell Biology & Biochemistry, Biological Sciences Division, Battelle 

- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA

Dr. Michael Rabinowitz, Geochemist, Clinical Instructor in Neurology, Harvard University, 

Newport, RI

Dr. William Stubblefield, Senior Research Professor, Department of Molecular and 

Environmental Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Dr. Ian von Lindern, President, TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering, Inc., Moscow, ID

Dr. Gail Wasserman, Professor of Clinical Psychology in Child Psychiatry, Division of Child 

and Adolescent Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New 

York, NY

Dr. Michael Weitzman, Professor, Pediatrics; Psychiatry, New York University School of 

Medicine, New York, NY

*Did not participate in this review.

SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD STAFF

Mr. Aaron Yeow, Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Science 

Advisory Board (1400R), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, Phone: 202-564-

2050, Fax: 202-565-2098, (yeow.aaron@epa.gov)
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ATTACHMENT B – Other Attendees

CASAC Lead Panel Public Teleconference

September 15, 2011

Name Affiliation

Bertrand, Charlotte EPA

Brown, James EPA

Burkett, Jeff Empire District Electric Co.

Campleman, Sharan Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Corrales, Mark EPA

Curry, Bridgid EPA

Davis, Charles North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural 

Resources

Diamond, Gary SRC

Hawkins, Bernard F., Jr. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Kirrane, Ellen EPA

Kotchmar, Dennis EPA

Lassiter, Meredith EPA

MacDonald, Stephen Health Canada

Macey, Kristin Health Canada

McAngus, Jess Spirit Environmental, LLC

McMahon, Bobby InsideEPA

Miksad, Roger Wiley Rein LLP

Nystrom, Marci California Air Resources Board (CARB)

Orlin, David EPA

Osterling Owens, Beth EPA

Patel, Molini EPA

Rak, Drew Noblis

Richmond-Bryant, Jennifer EPA

Ross, Mary EPA

Sexton, Will Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Smith, Kathleen Missouri Coalition for the Environment

Steichen, Ted American Petroleum Institute (API)

Sun, Gulan Texas Council of Environmental Quality (TCEQ)

Vinikoor-Imler, Lisa EPA

Volpe, Rosalind International Lead Zinc Research Organization (ILZRO)

Walsh, Debra EPA

Weaver, Virginia Johns Hopkins University

Wichers-Stanek, Lindsay EPA

Wilson, Linda New York State Attorney General's Office