TERA Peer Review Meeting To Evaluate
Acetaldehyde and Phenol

RiskWorld News Brief

The chemicals acetaldehyde and phenol are the focal points of the next quarterly, independent peer review meeting sponsored by Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), a non-profit organization "dedicated to the best use of toxicity data for the development of risk values." The meeting will be held on September 30, 1997, at the University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Acetaldehyde, which occurs naturally in certain foods and cigarette smoke and is produced when green plants break down food, is also manufactured for use in making acetic acid and other chemicals, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics' chemical fact sheet Chemicals in the Environment: Acetaldehyde. Phenol, which is primarily a man-made chemical but is also found in animal wastes and organic material, is largely used in making plastics, according to an Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry public health statement.

The Health Protection Branch of Health Canada has assessed the two chemicals under the mandate of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. TERA's panel of risk assessors and health scientists will review the documentation that addresses human health toxicity, hazard identification, and dose-response analyses of the chemicals.

Values that are approved may be added to TERA's International Toxicity Estimates for Risk (ITER) on-line database, which presently includes human health risk assessment values from international health organizations, government agencies, and others for 39 chemicals (http://www.tera.org/iter/).

"Observers are welcome to attend the meeting but must preregister by September 15, and space is limited," says TERA staff member Jacqueline Patterson. The $35 (US) registration fee includes the cost of a copy of the review materials and lunch.

TERA has also been scheduling chemicals for another peer review meeting in December. Each quarterly meeting may include reviews of up to four human health risk assessment values, and the meeting in December has one remaining opening available.

TERA's Web site at http://www.tera.org provides ample information about their peer review meetings, including reports from past meetings. To register to attend a meeting or to schedule a review for the meeting in December, contact Jacqueline Patterson (e-mail patterson@tera.org, telephone (513) 521-7426, fax (513) 542-7487).

Story posted August 22, 1997.

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