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The Scientific Guidance Panel advises Biomonitoring California on many issues, such as which chemicals
to measure in California residents.
Dr. Wilson, did you have a comment?
Would you entertain a motion?
Yes, I would.
Then I would move that the Panel designate non-halogenated aromatic phosphates as a class
for biomonitoring in California.
I wanted to start out by reminding everyone what designated chemicals are. Designated
chemicals are chemicals that can be considered for biomonitoring. And they are chemicals
that are part of the CDC's National Reports on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
Program. The Panel can also recommend additional designated chemicals for inclusion in the
program using specific criteria.
There's widespread and probable increasing use of non-halogenated aromatic phosphates.
All of these are High Production Volume chemicals. Some are -- several are in the range of 10
to 50 million pounds reported in 2006.
What we're discussing then is whether we, as a Panel, feel that we should consider designating
these non-halogenated aromatic phosphates as a class or whether we would like to defer
that until later when there's more information available, such as from those NTP studies
that were mentioned, or we could also decide against designating. Are there any thoughts
from the Panel about these different options?
They're emerging as the substitute for substances that California has identified as problematic,
being the brominated flame retardants. So they're emerging as commercially important
in California. They're problematic with regard to both persistence and bioaccumulation. And
they're problematic on the hazard side as well.
On known or suspected health effects, there are, you know, certainly pretty good information
on neurotoxicity and some very interesting and worrisome information on endocrine effects
for a number of these chemicals.
There are a number of compelling cases, I think, here, by any sort of chemical hypothesis,
we should find these they're persistent, very persistent, by certain criteria. They're rising
in use. So I think it's an opportunity for us to really watch something happening and
see -- and learn about whether there are mitigations or what the sort of dimensions of it are.
So it's a very important opportunity.
As Dr. McKone mentioned, you know, very compellingly there is the need to assess the efficacy of
public health actions to reduce exposure, and then the flip side of that, which is the
potential for -- you know, associated potential for increased exposure due to various actions,
such as flame retardancy standards.
Dr. Wilson, did you have a comment?
Would you entertain a motion?
Yes, I would.
Then I would move that the Panel designate non-halogenated aromatic phosphates as a class
for biomonitoring in California.
So then the Panel can vote.
Yes.
In favor.
All right. The Panel unanimously voted in favor of designating
non-halogenated aromatic phosphates to the California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program.
For more information, visit our website: biomonitoring.ca.gov
Biomonitoring California is a joint program of the California Department of Public Health, the Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control.