The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) has been recognized by EPA for its leadership in the development of short-term exposure limits.
Representatives from EPA''s National Advisory Committee for the Development of Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances (AEGL Program) personally delivered a plaque to AIHA for its "outstanding contributions to the development of the AEGL program," according to the letter of recognition.
The awards ceremony last month also honored Steven J. Barbee, Ph.D., CIH, and George Rusch, Ph.D., founder of the Emergency Response Planning Guidelines (ERPG) Committee and chair of the AEGL Committee.
According to AEGL Director Roger Garrett, Barbee has an "unbiased approach [that] fostered a collegial atmosphere on the committee," and Rusch''s "experience, knowledge, judgment, and fairness made him another great asset to the program."
As Garrett presented the commemorative plaque to AIHA''s Executive Director
O. Gordon Banks, Banks noted, "The heart of this organization is its technical and scientific activities -- and the guts of this organization is having committees get together and produce material like this," referring to groups like the ERPG Committee.
Manuel Gomez, CIH, director of Scientific Affairs, and David Gillum, MS, standards coordinator, were also on hand for the presentation.
The AEGL program is a public-private partnership established under the authority of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 to identify, review and interpret relevant toxicological information and develop acute exposure guideline levels for high-priority toxic chemicals.
The program was recently honored with the Vice President''s Hammer Award for Reinventing Government.
by Virginia Sutcliffe