Includes more than 600,000 scientific references and data from the peer-reviewed literature used by EPA to develop its regulations for the following: Integrated Science Assessments (ISA) that feed into the NAAQS review, Provisional Peer Reviewed Toxicity Values (PPRTV) that represent human health toxicity values for the Superfund, and the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), a database that supports critical agency policymaking for chemical regulation. It is used to develop EPA's risk assessments aimed at understanding the health and environmental effects of pollutants and chemicals.
It is developed and managed in EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA). HERO covers studies about a broad range of pollutants, chemicals, health and environmental effects.