EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program provides information on potential human health effects from long term exposure to chemicals present in air, water, or land. IRIS assessments are a critical part of the scientific foundation for decisions to protect public health. IRIS assessments include information on the hazard of the chemical (hazard identification) as well as information about the relationship between the dose of the chemical and the effect or response (dose-response assessment). IRIS includes toxicity values (e.g., oral reference dose, inhalation reference concentration, oral cancer slope factor, inhalation unit risk) that, when combined with information about exposure, can be used to characterize the health risk of exposure to environmental chemicals. Because of the importance of IRIS to state and local health agencies that must make decisions about chemicals in the environment, EPA has been making improvements to the Program to better meet stakeholder needs and improve transparency.
This session will provide a brief overview of the IRIS Program and IRIS database, with information about how IRIS can be used to inform decision-making. It will highlight changes that are being made to make critical information more accessible to users. The session will also highlight efforts by the IRIS Program to aggressively engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including the public health community, throughout the IRIS assessment development process. This will be followed by a Q&A/discussion period during which participants may ask questions, offer their opinions on the changes the IRIS Program is making, and provide suggestions for changes the public health community would like to see in IRIS. Robust stakeholder engagement will help the IRIS Program better understand what chemicals are priorities for assessment; get feedback about the changes that are being made in the Program; and understand how IRIS can better meet decision-making needs.
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