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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
The project was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant No. NAGW-2239. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.
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Subcommittee on Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations
DONALD E. GARDNER (Chair), Consultant,
Raleigh, North Carolina
JOSEPH V. BRADY,
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
RICHARD J. BULL,
Washington State University, Pullman, Washington
GARY P. CARLSON,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
CHARLES E. FEIGLEY,
University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
MARY E. GAULDEN,
University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
WILLIAM E. HALPERIN,
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio
E. MARSHALL JOHNSON,
Thomas Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
RALPH L. KODELL,
National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, Arkansas
ROBERT SNYDER,
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Piscataway, New Jersey
BERNARD M. WAGNER,
Bernard M. Wagner Associates, Millburn, New Jersey
G. DONALD WHEDON, Consultant,
Clearwater Beach, Florida
GAROLD S. YOST,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Staff
LEE R. PAULSON, Project Director
SUSAN N.J. PANG, Program Officer
RUTH E. CROSSGROVE, Editor
LUCY V. FUSCO, Project Assistant
Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Committee on Toxicology
BAILUS WALKER, JR. (Chair),
Howard University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
MELVIN E. ANDERSEN,
Colorado State University, Denver, Colorado
GERMAINE M. BUCK,
State University of New York at Buffalo
GARY P. CARLSON,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
JACK H. DEAN,
Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Malverne, Pennsylvania
ROBERT E. FORSTER II,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PAUL M.D. FOSTER,
Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
DAVID W. GAYLOR,
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, Arkansas
JUDITH A. GRAHAM,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
SIDNEY GREEN,
Howard University, Washington, D.C.
WILLIAM E. HALPERIN,
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio
CHARLES H. HOBBS,
Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico
FLORENCE K. KINOSHITA,
Hercules Incorporated, Wilmington, Delaware
MICHAEL J. KOSNETT,
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado
MORTON LIPPMANN,
New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, New York
THOMAS E. MCKONE,
University of California, Berkeley, California
ERNEST E. MCCONNELL,
ToxPath, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina
DAVID H. MOORE,
Battelle Memorial Institute, Bel Air, Maryland
GÜNTER OBERDÖRSTER,
University of Rochester, Rochester, New York
JOHN L. O'DONOGHUE,
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, New York
GEORGE M. RUSCH,
AlliedSignal, Inc., Morristown, New Jersey
MARY E. VORE,
University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
ANNETTA P. WATSON,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
COT Staff
KULBIR S. BAKSHI, Program Director
SUSAN N.J. PANG, Program Officer
ABIGAIL STACK, Program Officer
RUTH E. CROSSGROVE, Publications Manager
KATHRINE J. IVERSON, Manager,
Toxicology Information Center
LUCY V. FUSCO, Project Assistant
LEAH PROBST, Project Assistant
EVELYN SIMEON, Project Assistant
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
GORDON ORIANS (Chair),
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
DONALD MATTISON (Vice Chair),
March of Dimes, White Plains, New York
DAVID ALLEN,
University of Texas, Austin, Texas
INGRID C. BURKE,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
WILLIAM L. CHAMEIDES,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
JOHN DOULL,
University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas
CHRISTOPHER B. FIELD,
Carnegie Institute of Washington, Stanford, California
JOHN GERHART,
University of California, Berkeley, California
J. PAUL GILMAN,
Celera Genomics, Rockville, Maryland
BRUCE D. HAMMOCK,
University of California, Davis, California
MARK HARWELL,
University of Miami, Miami, Florida
ROGENE HENDERSON,
Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico
CAROL HENRY,
Chemical Manufacturers Association, Arlington, Virginia
BARBARA HULKA,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
JAMES F. KITCHELL,
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
DANIEL KREWSKI,
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
JAMES A. MACMAHON,
Utah State University, Logan, Utah
MARIO J. MOLINA,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
CHARLES O'MELIA,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
WILLEM F. PASSCHIER,
Health Council of the Netherlands
KIRK SMITH,
University of California, Berkeley, California
MARGARET STRAND,
Oppenheimer Wolff Donnelly & Bayh, LLP, Washington, D.C.
TERRY F. YOSIE,
Chemical Manufacturers Association, Arlington, Virginia
Senior BEST Staff
JAMES J. REISA, Director
DAVID J. POLICANSKY, Associate Director and Senior Program Director for Applied Ecology
CAROL A. MACZKA, Senior Program Director for Toxicology and Risk Assessment
RAYMOND A. WASSEL, Senior Program Director for Environmental Sciences and Engineering
KULBIR BAKSHI, Program Director for Toxicology
LEE R. PAULSON, Program Director for Resource Management
ROBERTA WEDGE, Program Director for Risk Analysis
Commission on Life Sciences
MICHAEL T. CLEGG (Chair),
University of California, Riverside, California
PAUL BERG (Vice Chair),
Stanford University, Stanford, California
FREDERICK R. ANDERSON,
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Washington, D.C.
JOANNA BURGER,
Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey
JAMES E. CLEAVER,
University of California, San Francisco, California
DAVID EISENBERG,
University of California, Los Angeles, California
JOHN EMMERSON,
Fishers, Indiana
NEAL FIRST,
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
DAVID J. GALAS,
Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Science, Claremont, California
DAVID V. GOEDDEL,
Tularik, Inc., South San Francisco, California
ARTURO GOMEZ-POMPA,
University of California, Riverside, California
COREY S. GOODMAN,
University of California, Berkeley, California
JON W. GORDON,
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York
DAVID G. HOEL,
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
BARBARA S. HULKA,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
CYNTHIA KENYON,
University of California, San Francisco, California
BRUCE R. LEVIN,
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
DAVID LIVINGSTON,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
DONALD R. MATTISON,
March of Dimes, White Plains, New York
ELLIOT M. MEYEROWITZ,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
ROBERT T. PAINE,
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
RONALD R. SEDEROFF,
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
ROBERT R. SOKAL,
State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York
CHARLES F. STEVENS,
The Salk Institute, La Jolla, California
SHIRLEY M. TILGHMAN,
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
RAYMOND L. WHITE,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Other Reports of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
Waste Incineration and Public Health (1999)
Hormonally Active Agents in the Environment (1999)
Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter: II. Evaluating Research Progress and Updating the Portfolio (1999)
Ozone-Forming Potential of Reformulated Gasoline (1999)
Risk-Based Waste Classification in California (1999)
Arsenic in Drinking Water (1999)
Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter: I. Immediate Priorities and a Long-Range Research Portfolio (1998)
Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area (1998)
The National Research Council's Committee on Toxicology: The First 50 Years (1997)
Toxicologic Assessment of the Army's Zinc Cadmium Sulfide Dispersion Tests (1997)
Carcinogens and Anticarcinogens in the Human Diet (1996)
Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest (1996)
Science and the Endangered Species Act (1995)
Wetlands: Characteristics and Boundaries (1995)
Biologic Markers (5 reports, 1989-1995)
Review of EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (3 reports, 1994-1995)
Science and Judgment in Risk Assessment (1994)
Ranking Hazardous Waste Sites for Remedial Action (1994)
Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children (1993)
Issues in Risk Assessment (1993)
Setting Priorities for Land Conservation (1993)
Protecting Visibility in National Parks and Wilderness Areas (1993)
Dolphins and the Tuna Industry (1992)
Hazardous Materials on the Public Lands (1992)
Science and the National Parks (1992)
Animals as Sentinels of Environmental Health Hazards (1991)
Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program, Volumes I-IV (1991-1993)
Human Exposure Assessment for Airborne Pollutants (1991)
Monitoring Human Tissues for Toxic Substances (1991)
Rethinking the Ozone Problem in Urban and Regional Air Pollution (1991)
Decline of the Sea Turtles (1990)
Copies of these reports may be ordered from the National Academy Press
(800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313
Preface
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is aware of the potential toxicological hazards to crew members that might be associated with prolonged spacecraft missions. Despite major engineering advances in controlling the atmosphere within spacecraft, some contamination of the air appears inevitable. NASA has measured numerous airborne contaminants during space missions. As the missions increase in duration and complexity, ensuring the health and well-being of astronauts traveling and working in this unique environment becomes increasingly difficult.
As part of its efforts to promote safe conditions aboard spacecraft, NASA requested the National Research Council (NRC) to develop guidelines for establishing spacecraft maximum allowable concentrations (SMACs) for contaminants, and to review SMACs for various spacecraft contaminants to determine whether NASA's recommended exposure limits are consistent with the guidelines recommended by the subcommittee. In response to this request, the NRC first developed criteria and methods for preparing SMACs for spacecraft contaminants, published in its 1992 report Guidelines for Developing Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations for Space Station Contaminants. Since then, the NRC's Subcommittee on Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations has been reviewing NASA's documentation of chemical-specific SMACs. This report is the fourth volume in the series Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations for Space Station Contaminants. The first volume was published in 1994 and the second and third in 1996.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their technical expertise and diverse perspectives in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC's Report Review Committee for reviewing NRC and Institute of Medicine reports. The purpose of that independent review was to provide candid and critical comments to assist the NRC in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to
protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals, who are neither officials nor employees of the NRC, for their participation in the review of this report: Rogene Henderson, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute; Loren Koller, Oregon State University; and George Rusch, AlliedSignal, Inc.
The individuals listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions. It must be emphasized, however, that responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the NRC.
The subcommittee gratefully acknowledges the valuable assistance provided by the following personnel from NASA and its contractors: John James, Martin Coleman, Jay Perry, Kenneth Mitchell (all from NASA), King Lit Wong (U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office), Hector Garcia, Chiu Wing Lam, and Ragupathy Ramanathan (all from Wyle Laboratories). Lucy Fusco was the senior project assistant. Ruth Crossgrove edited the report. The subcommittee particularly acknowledges Lee Paulson, project director for the subcommittee, and Susan Pang, program officer, for bringing the report to completion.
Donald E. Gardner, Chair
Subcommittee on Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations
Bailus Walker, Chair
Committee on Toxicology