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Notice of Intent to List: Emissions from Combustion of Coal

(NOTE: The notice published in the California Regulatory Notice Register has an incorrect date of the close of the public comment period. The correct date is Monday, July 8, 2013)

No comments received.

The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) intends to list emissions from combustion of coal as known to the State to cause cancer under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.1 This action is being proposed under the authoritative bodies listing mechanism.2

Chemical

Endpoint

Reference

Occurrence and Uses

Emissions from combustion of coal

Cancer

IARC (2010)

Residential and industrial facility combustion of coal fuel

OEHHA requested information relevant to the possible listing of emissions from combustion of coal in a notice published in the California Regulatory Notice Register on March 15, 2013 (Register 2013, Vol. No. 11-Z).  No public comments were received.

Background on listing via the authoritative bodies mechanism:  A chemical must be listed under the Proposition 65 regulations when two conditions are met:

  1. An authoritative body formally identifies the chemical as causing cancer (Section 25306(d)3).
  2. The evidence considered by the authoritative body meets the sufficiency criteria contained in the regulations (Section 25306(e)).

However, the chemical is not listed if scientifically valid data which were not considered by the authoritative body clearly establish that the sufficiency of evidence criteria were not met (Section 25306(f)).

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is one of several institutions designated as authoritative for the identification of chemicals as causing cancer (Section 25306(m)).

OEHHA is the lead agency for Proposition 65 implementation. After an authoritative body has made a determination about a chemical, OEHHA evaluates whether listing under Proposition 65 is required using the criteria contained in the regulations.
OEHHA’s determination: Emissions from combustion of coal meet the criteria for listing as known to the State to cause cancer under Proposition 65, based on findings of IARC (IARC 2010).

Formal identification and sufficiency of evidence for emissions from combustion of coal:  In 2010, IARC published Volume 95 in the series IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, entitled Household Use of Solid Fuels and High-temperature Frying (IARC, 2010). This report satisfies the formal identification and sufficiency of evidence criteria in the Proposition 65 regulations for emissions from combustion of coal.

IARC concluded, “There is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of emissions from combustion of coal” (emphasis in original).  OEHHA is relying on IARC’s discussion of data and conclusions in the report that emissions from combustion of coal cause cancer.  Evidence described in the report includes studies showing that emissions from combustion of coal increase the incidences of malignant lung tumors in two studies in Kumming mice (squamous-cell carcinomas, adenosquamous carcinomas and adenocarcinomas in the study by Liang et al., 1988, and adenocarcinomas in the study by Lin et al., 1995) and one study in Wistar rats (squamous-cell carcinomas in the study by Liang et al., 1988).

Thus, IARC (2010) has found that emissions from combustion of coal cause increased incidence of malignant lung tumors in mice and rats.

Request for comments:  OEHHA is requesting comments as to whether emissions from combustion of coal meets the criteria set forth in the Proposition 65 regulations for authoritative bodies listings. In order to be considered, OEHHA must receive comments by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 8, 2013. We encourage you to submit comments in electronic form, rather than in paper form. Comments transmitted by e-mail should be addressed to P65Public.Comments@oehha.ca.gov with “NOIL - emissions from combustion of coal” in the subject line.  Comments submitted in paper form may be mailed, faxed, or delivered in person to the addresses below:

Mailing Address:
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
P.O. Box 4010, MS-19B
Sacramento, California 95812-4010
Fax: (916) 323-2265
Street Address:1001 I Street
Sacramento, California 95814
Comments received during the public comment period will be posted on the OEHHA web site after the close of the comment period.

If you have any questions, please contact Sam Delson at sam.delson@oehha.ca.gov or at (916)445-6900.

Link to Public Comments

The comment period closed on July 8, 2013.  No comments were received.

Footnotes and References

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, 2010). IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Volume 95, Household Use of Solid Fuels and High-temperature Frying, pp. 225, 226, 303, and 307, IARC, World Health Organization, Lyon, France, available at http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol95/mono95.pdf

Liang CK, Quan NY, Cao SR et al. (1988).  Natural inhalation exposure to coal smoke and wood smoke induces lung cancer in mice and rats.  Biomed Environ Sci 1:42-50.  PMID: 3268107

Lin C, Dai X, Sun X (1995). [Expression of oncogene and anti-oncogene in mouse lung cancer induced by coal-burning smoke].  Zhonghua Zhong Liu Za Zhi 17:432-434.  PMID: 8697995.

 

1 Commonly known as Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 is codified in Health and Safety Code section 25249.5 et seq.

2 See Health and Safety Code section 25249.8(b) and Title 27, Cal. Code of Regs., section 25306.

3 All referenced sections are from Title 27 of the Cal. Code of Regulations.