EPA’s final peer review report on 1-bromopropane (1-BP) became available from the agency’s primary scientific peer-review mechanism, the Chemical Safety Advisory Committee (CSAC), on Aug. 22. The committee, which provides independent expert assessment of chemical and chemical-related matters facing EPA, met in May to review EPA’s draft risk assessment for 1-BP. CSAC’s report states that the draft risk assessment’s conceptual model “appropriately considers worker exposures and consumer uses, with the majority of exposure occurring via inhalation.”

EPA’s draft risk assessment for 1-BP, also known as n-propyl bromide, indicates health risks for workers with repeated and chronic exposures to the chemical, including neurotoxicity; kidney, liver, and reproductive toxicity; and lung cancer. The draft risk assessment estimates that as many as 48,900 workers and occupational non-users are potentially exposed to 1-BP from use in spray adhesives, dry cleaning, vapor degreasing, and aerosol degreasing.

CSAC’s peer review report concludes that EPA’s draft risk assessment “appropriately uses a high-end estimate for worker exposure.” To improve the agency’s analysis of occupational exposures, the committee encourages EPA to consider that many dry-cleaning facilities are family-owned and operated. CSAC recommends that EPA expand the scenarios for worker hours in dry cleaners to include a wider range—for example, 4, 6, 8, and 12 hours. Further, the committee urges EPA to consider estimating potential exposures to 1-BP in children who could be helping out or waiting for their parents to finish work at dry-cleaning facilities. The peer review report also concludes that it’s appropriate for EPA to assume that the dry-cleaning machines in its exposure scenarios are older models because “family-owned and operated facilities may not have the resources to purchase newer equipment.”

The full peer review report is available on EPA’s . Supporting materials for the CSAC meeting are available via .