Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides
EPA has updated its Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides (HHBPs) in drinking water to reflect the latest scientific information. HHBPs are levels of certain food use pesticides in drinking water or source waters for drinking water at or below which adverse health effects are not anticipated from one-day or lifetime exposures. First developed by EPA in 2012, HHBPs are intended to be used for informational purposes by states, tribes, water systems and the public to help interpret monitoring data for pesticides for which there are no drinking water standards or health advisories. EPA develops HHBPs using the same equation we use to calculate health advisories for drinking water. These revised benchmarks incorporate updated toxicity assessments from the pesticide registration process and exposure assumptions derived from the EPA’s Exposure Factors Handbook.

For more information regarding EPA’s derivation of HHBPs send an email to Jamie Strong at strong.jamie@epa.gov. For information regarding the toxicity values and documentation used by EPA for deriving the benchmarks send an email to Brenda May at may.brenda@epa.gov.

Meeting summaries are available through the FSTRAC SharePoint site. Please contact Dr. Shamima Akhter (akhter.shamima@epa.gov) or Susan Lanberg (susan.lanberg@tetratech.com) for information on how to use the FSTRAC SharePoint site or to obtain a user name and password.

FSTRAC members have developed a summary of state derived health-based water criteria and supported development of the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s Bathing and Showering Guidance Support Document, the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s Bathing and Showering Guidance for Private Wells, and the Minnesota Department of Health’s State Derived Health-Based Water Criteria summary. Links to these products are provided below.

• Connecticut Department of Public Health’s Bathing and Showering Guidance Support Document
• Connecticut Department of Public Health’s Bathing and Showering Guidance for Private Wells
• Minnesota Department of Health’s State Derived Health-Based Water Criteria Summary