Current Asbestos Related Issues

By Dr. Aparna M. Koppikar

Wednesday, 21 May 2003

3:00-3:30 PM Social gathering, light snacks
3:30 PM Program

EPA Region 1 Building
One Congress Street
Boston, MA
11th floor conference room

Pre-registration is needed so that security staff can prepare identification
badges for attendants. Send an e-mail containing ONLY name, affiliation, and
business address to m.c.harnois@worldnet.att.net by May 20th.

Current Asbestos Related Issues

By Aparna M. Koppikar
Medical Officer/Epidemiologist,
Quantitative Risk Methods Group,
NCEA-W, Office of Research and Development
Environmental Protection Agency

Summary: In last four years asbestos exposures and its health effects have become hot topics again. Since the Agency’s last evaluation of asbestos health effects in 1986 there has been in-depth research into understanding the health effects caused by different types of asbestos fibers both in humans and in animals. With increasing knowledge of mechanism of toxicity in animals and observations of different magnitude of health effects in humans associated with different types of fibers, the Agency is in process of re-evaluating the health assessment of asbestos. This presentation will discuss the current asbestos related issues, new information regarding those issues, and the Agency’s proposed plan for the Health Assessment of Asbestos for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).

Biography: Dr. Koppikar has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S), Diploma in Public Health (DPH), and Doctorate of Medicine (M.D.) Preventive & Social Medicine from University of Bombay; Diploma in Industrial Health (DIH), Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, London, England; Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Koppikar has several years of experience in numerous fields of medical and scientific research with emphasis on epidemiology. She has been working for the Agency for last 17 years. She is the medical contact for NCEA to handle medical queries that come in. She is one of the two cancer epidemiologists who has conducted several risk assessment for the Agency. These include assessments on: health effects of ultra- violet radiation (specifically UV-B and melanoma), indoor radon, unleaded gasoline, lead and lead compounds, man-made mineral fibers, crystalline silica, benzidine and azo dyes.

Dr. Koppikar was on the team of epidemiologists responsible for writing the evaluation of human studies section in the 1996 Proposed Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment. Proposed Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment. She has also worked on several scientific/technical panels and is a liaison person with OAQPS and OTAQ for several air contaminants. Recently she has completed work on Health assessment of 1,3-butadiene for which she was the team leader and Health Assessment Document for Diesel Engine Exhaust for which she was a co-team leader. She has given several National and International presentations on the health effects of UV-B, radon, silica, diesel exhaust, and 1,3-butadiene. Currently she is developing a risk assessment for asbestos. She’ll also serve as a team leader for this project.