Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is today publishing in final form a document entitled Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment (hereafter ``Guidelines''). These Guidelines were developed as part of an interoffice program by a Technical Panel of the Risk Assessment Forum. These Guidelines will help improve the quality of ecological risk assessments at EPA while increasing the consistency of assessments among the Agency's program offices and regions. These Guidelines were prepared during a time of increasing interest in the field of ecological risk assessment and reflect input from many sources both within and outside the Agency. The Guidelines expand upon and replace the previously published EPA report Framework for Ecological Risk Assessment (EPA/630/R-92/001, February 1992), which proposed principles and terminology for the ecological risk assessment process. From 1992 to 1994, the Agency focused on identifying a structure for the Guidelines and the issues that the document would address. EPA sponsored public and Agency colloquia, developed peer- reviewed ecological assessment case studies, and prepared a set of peer-reviewed issue papers highlighting important principles and approaches. Drafts of the proposed Guidelines underwent formal external peer review and were reviewed by the Agency's Risk Assessment Forum, by Federal interagency subcommittees of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and by the Agency's Science Advisory Board (SAB). The proposed Guidelines were published for public comment in 1996 (61 FR 47552-47631, September 9, 1996). The final Guidelines incorporate revisions based on the comments received from the public and the SAB on the proposed Guidelines. EPA appreciates the efforts of all participants in the process and has tried to address their recommendations in these Guidelines.