§2077 Chronic Hazard Advisory Panels

Summary

Creates advisory panels to help the Commission study long-term risks from consumer products that can cause cancer, birth defects, or gene mutations. Each panel has 7 members chosen from a list sent by the President of the National Academy of Sciences. Members must be scientists who are not federal officers or employees (except people from NIH, the National Toxicology Program, or the National Center for Toxicological Research), must have no big financial ties to product makers or sellers, and must be able to judge health risks from toxic exposures. The members pick a Chair and Vice Chair and make decisions by majority vote. The Commission gives administrative help and pays members up to the daily equivalent of the GS–18 annual pay rate for each day worked, including travel. Panels ask for and release information only through the Commission. Federal agencies, states, industry, and others must give the panel the data it requests to do its job, even if other laws limit sharing. A rule called section 2055 controls what the panel can disclose publicly, but it does not stop agencies from sharing information with the panel.