World Trade Center Peer Review 

Call for Panel Member Nominations  

Since September 11, 2001 , the outdoor environment around the World Trade Center (WTC) site and nearby areas have been extensively monitored by a group of federal, state and local agencies.  Now that outdoor recovery efforts have come to an end, health and environmental agencies are focusing on the indoor environment.  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering to clean and test or just test any residence south of Canal, Allen and Pike Streets in lower Manhattan.  EPA is also conducting a confirmatory “pilot” cleaning program in an uncleaned/unoccupied building at 110 Liberty to evaluate the effectiveness of various cleaning methods and is conducting a study of homes North of 59^th Street to determine pollution levels in New York City prior to 9/11.

As part of these efforts, a Contaminants of Potential Concern (COPC) Committee of the World Trade Center Indoor Air Taskforce Working Group, has developed a document with a list of pollutants that could be of concern in the indoor environment in lower Manhattan.  This list also includes health-based benchmarks or clearance levels for these contaminants.  This working group includes members from EPA, New York City Department of Health, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, New York State Department of Health and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.   To insure that the document is based on the best scientific information and judgments, the U.S. EPA has requested that the non-profit research organization, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), conduct an independent scientific peer review.  

A meeting of the peer review panel for the document, called “Indoor Air Assessment: Selecting Contaminants of Potential Concern and Setting Health-Based Benchmarks,” is tentatively scheduled to be held during in October 2002 in New York City.  At the meeting, independent expert scientists sitting on the peer review panel will discuss and provide their opinions regarding the scientific basis for the conclusions and recommendations made in this document.  The public is welcome to observe this meeting and provide technical comments about the document.  However, the meeting is not intended as a general public meeting on EPA’s cleanup program.

To bring together the best possible experts for this review, TERA is seeking suggestions from interested parties for scientists who TERA might consider selecting for the panel.  The Peer Review panel will be composed of 8-10 scientific experts with technical knowledge in a variety of subject areas, including asbestos/fibrous glass; risk assessment; exposure evaluation; indoor chemical sampling techniques, and industrial hygiene/occupational exposure limits.  We are seeking scientists with recognized technical expertise in these areas, as evidenced by their training, research, experience and/or publications.  Panel members must be willing to volunteer their time to prepare for and participate in the review panel (panel members will be reimbursed for their travel and expenses for the meeting).  They must also be willing to publicly disclose all potential conflicts of interest and to be governed by TERA’s Conflict of Interest Policy and determinations.  We are seeking scientists who will objectively consider differing viewpoints in drawing their conclusions, and will work effectively in a group.  Nominated scientists will be considered for selection, along with others who TERA will independently identify.  TERA, as the independent group convening the peer review, is solely responsible for final selection of panel members.

To assure an independent evaluation of the document, authors of the document under review will be ineligible to participate as panel members, as will scientists who have provided the authors with comments on earlier drafts.  In addition, to avoid the potential conflicts of interest,  anyone employed by agencies or departments that have developed this document (e.g., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the New York State Department of Health, and the New York City Department of Health) will also be ineligible to participate as panel members.  TERA will discuss potential conflict of interest with each person being considered for the panel, and panel members will sign a written form disclosing conflicts of interest.  

Nominations must be submitted to TERA via email (nominations@tera.org) or fax (513-542-7487) by August 23, 2002 to allow for adequate preparation time.  At a minimum, the nominations must include the name, phone number and email address of the nominee, with a brief description of the nominee’s qualifications.  If available, the nominee’s resume should accompany the nomination.  

 Questions regarding this peer review panel and nomination process can be directed to Ms. Joan Strawson of TERA, at 910-692-7752.  More information about TERA and its peer consultation and review program is available at http://www.tera.org/peer  Additional information about the peer review meeting will be posted on this web site as it is available.

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Last updated:  01/22/2008

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