TRICHLOROETHYLENE HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT - A NEW AND IMPROVED PROCESS

Trichloroethylene (TCE), an environmental contaminant of National conc ern, is the focus of a new health risk assessment process incorporatin g the Proposed Cancer Risk Assessment Guidelines(1). This paper descri bes not only how TCE became an environmental problem for the Air Force , but also details the new Risk Assessment process envisioned by the E nvironmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Center for Environment al Assessment (NCEA). Insights on epidemiological evaluations, both pa st and future, and their impact on the cancer classification of TCE ar e discussed. Examples of how physiologically based pharmacokinetics an d dose-response characterization described in the new Cancer Guideline s are applied to TCE are provided. In addition, a variety of modeling techniques are discussed for the development of reference doses (oral exposure) and reference concentrations (inhalation exposures) for TCE. Finally, the role of risk communication is included, This new process provides an example of how interagency (EPA, Department of Defense, D epartment of Energy) and extramural (industry, academia) partnerships can provide greater gains to the nation, as a whole, than any of the p arts on their own.