View from European NGOs on mixture assessmentView from European NGOs on mixture assessment

The Ecological Council

View from European NGOs

on mixture assessment

Lone Mikkelsen, The Ecological Council

Berlin, 30th January, 2013

Mixture toxicity

Call-for-Action

The Ecological Council Lone Mikkelsen, 4M: Mixtures – January 30th, 2013

The Ecological Council calls on the EU to

act on six specific points:

1. Use the Concentration Addition method as the default

mixture prediction model

2. Ensure the use of the precautionary principle

3. Agree on an approach for assessing mixtures in real life

4. Explicitly implement demands for mixture toxicity assessment

in REACH, the Water Framework Directive, the directive on

pesticide residues in food and other relevant directives

5. Initiate the construction of an addendum to the central EU

chemicals database

6. Not only focus on the endocrine disruptors


REACH: a good place to start

• Tackles the source

• The major obstacle for broader inclusion in REACH: aims at regulating single productions rather than regulating chemicals in regard to a more holistic environmental/human health concern

• When principle is in place it should be spread to other relevant legislations

What are we waiting for??

• Clear results from research and

scientific tools available

May 2012: Commission report on mixtures

• Recognize that, with current structure of

EU law, it is not possible to make proper

assessments of combination effects of

various chemicals

• Still propose no changes to the law…

→ NGOs reacted with a joint letter


Default prediction model


• Policy is lagging behind latest research

• Unfeasible to evaluate all possible

mixtures

• The only logical way forward: reduce

exposure as much as possible – be

precautionary

• Default prediction model: Concentration

Addition model – allows for mixture toxicity

assessment based on knowledge regarding

the toxicity of single chemicals

Ensure reliable

mixture assessment

• High quality of single substance

data

• Also use peer-reviewed

research

• Use pragmatic approaches in

data-poor situations

• Approach for assessing real life

exposures


Danish mixture research

DTU Food • Sperm counts decreased by 62%

• Lost orientation – like women

• Cocktail effects at doses where the single compounds

alone have no health effect

SDU • Pesticide cocktail exposed mothers

• Premature breast development, effects on the nervous

system and hypertension in prenatal exposed children


Conclusions

• Need for political actions

(scientific foundation in place)

• Eliminate/reduce exposure

• Use the CA method as the

default mixture prediction

model

• Focus on high quality data


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