API's product stewardship activities and programs support the oil and natural gas industry in its commitment to a shared responsibility for the industry's environmental, health and safety performance.
An integral component of API's Product Stewardship Program is API sponsored research. API research is used by API, its member companies and others to protect workers and communities surrounding their facilities, and often by regulatory agencies in their similar efforts.
Ongoing programs include:
Children's Health Initiative
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched its Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP) pilot in December 2000. EPA chose candidate chemicals for this program on the basis of their presence in biomonitoring databases and environmental databases relevant to children. The chemicals selected for this pilot are not necessarily of special concern to children, rather they are the products of a selection process based on the available data. API, as a participant in a consortium of chemical companies and industry groups managed by the American Chemistry Council, has sponsored the chemicals benzene, toluene and Xylene in EPA's VCCEP pilot. Sponsored chemicals are evaluated using a peer consultation process developed and administered by the non-profit organization Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment.
Resources:
High Production Volume (HPV) Chemical Challenge Program
The HPV Challenge Program was developed in response to the results of independent studies conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Environmental Defense Fund (now Environmental Defense,), and the Chemical Manufacturers Association (now American Chemistry Council). These studies concluded that there is a lack of publicly-available information about the potential health and environmental hazards of many chemicals produced or imported into the U.S. in large quantities. From this realization, EPA created the High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Program, a major ground breaking chemical information collection effort.
Purpose and Goal
The HPV Challenge Program was developed to gather and publish health and environmental hazard information on the HPV chemicals (defined as those chemicals manufactured in, or imported into, the U.S. in amounts equal to or exceeding 1 million pounds per year) listed by EPA.
The information resulting from this program will be made available to the public, fulfilling the commitment of EPA and the chemical and oil and natural gas industries to the publics' right-to-know. A publicly available database, which is now being developed, will be filled over the next several years with summaries of existing and new information on the hazardous characteristics of each chemical. With this information, EPA and others will then be able to better characterize the potential for adverse effects on plant, animal, and human health and the environment. EPA has stated that the availability of this information is vitally important to the public so that citizens better understand the chemical hazards in their communities, workplaces, and homes.
Oil and Natural Gas Industry’s Role
In response to EPA’s HPV Challenge Program, the oil and natural gas industry formed the Petroleum HPV Testing Group consortium. API administers the consortium, which is made up of 60 member companies representing 92 percent of the nation’s refinery capacity. The Petroleum HPV Testing Group is pleased to voluntarily sponsor chemicals used or manufactured by our industry.
The consortium will facilitate the acquisition of existing information and the development of new data to provide the public with information on the HPV substances generated or imported by the petroleum industry. The Petroleum HPV Testing Group works in conjunction with EPA, other trade associations, and non-government organizations to meet the HPV challenge, using the best scientific means available.
Additional Information
The links below will take you to a site outside www.api.org.
Strategic Health Research
API's health research activities and programs support the oil and natural gas industry in its commitment to a shared responsibility for the industry's environmental, health and safety performance. The varied programs that are supported by API research are used by API, its member companies and others to protect workers and communities surrounding their facilities, and are often used by regulatory agencies in their similar efforts.
Recently, API has been co-funding research that is jointly funded with other industry groups and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These include some of the research efforts of the Health Effects Institute and other specific projects which are described in greater detail within this section of API’s web site.
Hydrogen Sulfide Research
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a naturally occurring substance that may be found in natural gas or crude oil. H2S can also be a by-product that occurs when certain chemical reactions take place (such as in a swamp or an animal’s digestive tract). The oil and natural gas industry takes numerous measures to protect our workers and the general public from any dangers associated with H2S. The odor of H2S is noticeable at very low levels – as little as 1/10,000th of the amount that could pose a significant health risk. But while the smell can be unpleasant, the odor itself is not cause for health concerns.
API has a long-standing interest in the health effects of H2S and has performed a substantial body of research on the subject. A summary of recent research on H2S can be found in Proceedings of the Hydrogen Sulfide Health Research and Risk Assessment Symposium October 31-November 2, 2000, Woodall GM, Smith RL, Granville GC. Inhal Toxicol. 2005 Oct;17(11):593-639.
Benzene Research
Benzene is a naturally-occurring constituent of crude oil and a constituent of many petroleum products. Its average concentration in motor gasoline in the United States is on the order of 1%. This substance has received much attention from regulatory agencies because benzene has been classified as a known human carcinogen and causes blood disorders (leukemia) in workers exposed to high concentrations. API conducts research on benzene to develop strong scientific information on key benzene risk issues. This data, applicable across all environmental media (air, water and solid waste), has use in risk management and communication, as well as during discussions with government regulators.
API has a long-standing interest in the health effects of benzene and has performed a substantial body of research on the subject. A summary of recent research on benzene can be found in Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Benzene Toxicity, Munich, Germany, 9-12 October 2004 Bird MG, Greim H, Snyder R, Rice JM. Chem Biol Interact. 2005 May 30;153-154:1-270.
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