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FoBiG together with Fraunhofer ITEM tests a procedure for the identification of emerging chemical risks in food and feed under a contract awarded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in October 2014. This pilot study will select 100 substances registered under REACH and apply the procedure to check whether it is able to identify chemicals that may represent a risk in the food chain. The original procedure developed by EFSA, which will be adapted during the project, is described in detail in a technical report published by EFSA in 2014. The project will run for 18 months until March 2016.

Recently ECHA published a clarification regarding the information requirements for cosmetic ingredients under REACH. According to ECHA data for all endpoints relevant to assess human health endpoints for workers are required, despite the test prohibition laid down in the Cosmetics Regulation. In consequence, information requirements for cosmetic ingredients will not deviate substantially from those of other REACH substances of the same tonnage band. For details see here.

This conference provides a state-of-the-art overview on the biocides regulation landscape. New developments and arising problems, such as nanomaterials or impact of CLP, resulting from the entry-into-force of the new Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR; Regulation (EU) No. 528/2012) in September 2013, are presented and discussed. If you have questions regarding biocidal product authorization, contact Klaus Schneider.

Methylisothiazolone (MIT) and 5-chloro-methylisothiazolinone (CIT) are active ingredients of biocidal products. They are used – alone or in combination (Kathon™)  – as preservatives in many convenience goods (e.g. cosmetics). They are very often detectable in indoor air. They have inter alia irritating and sensitising properties. The Ad-hoc Working Group for Indoor Air Guide Values and the Human Biomonitoring Commission of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) are currently evaluating these substances. FoBiG elaborates the scientific background on behalf of the UBA.

The European Commission started a public consultation on the criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors (ED) on 26th September 2014 (deadline: 16 January 2015). This is part of the impact assessment process in the context of the implementation of the plant protection product regulation and the biocidal products regulation. For further information see here. While the Commission is discussing the criteria for identifying ED and their possible regulatory consequences the criteria proposed by the Endocrine Disruptors Expert Advisory Group (JRC, 2013) were already applied to DEHP and other phthalates by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency  to propose an Annex XIV entry. Do you have any further questions on endocrine disruptors in the REACH context?

For companies seeking support for preparing Applications for Authorisation under REACH or wishing to exchange experiences ECHA provides a new partners service to find suitable partners for their authorisation applications. For more information click here. On the list of partners provided by ECHA you will also find FoBiG and RPA Ltd.:
For REACH authorisation FoBiG is working closely with the UK consultancy RPA Ltd. in Loddon. Both consultancies cooperate(d) successfully in several past and ongoing authorisation projects for chemical companies and consortia. Whereas RPA provides special expertise in socioeconomic analysis (SEA) and the technical and economic aspects of the evaluation of alternatives, FoBiG’s main tasks are improving the CSR (particularly the exposure assessment, to be able to conclude on low risks) and assessing the hazard and risk profiles of potential alternative substances.

FoBiG staff member Jan Oltmanns together with colleagues from Öko-Institut and EUROSTAT compared classification information from REACH registration dossiers with legally binding harmonised classifications for a set of 142 very high production substances. The analysis, just published in Regulatory Toxicology & Pharmacology, showed that a substantial number of substances had stricter classifications in the REACH registration dossiers and were often classified for additional endpoints not covered by the harmonised classification. The authors concluded that REACH leads to an improved hazard characterisation.

ECHA recently announced an update of CHESAR, now including so-called SCEDs (Specific Consumer Exposure Determinants), developed by industry associations. SCEDs describe specific conditions of use for consumer exposure scenarios. Recently, FoBiG, on behalf of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR, Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung), compared and evaluated parameters and defaults used in common Tier I consumer exposure tools (ECETOC TRA, REACT, EGRET) (report soon to be published by BfR, manuscript for peer review journal in preparation).

The RCP was developed to establish occupational exposure limits (OEL) for refined hydrocarbon solvent vapour mixtures (Pflaumbaum et al., 2008a,b) and will now be revised by FoBiG in a project funded by the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV). In cooperation with other committees, manufacturers and experts of the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the DGUV (IFA) current hydrocarbon group guidance values will be revisited and, if required, new groups will be established having adapted the group guidance values. Interested stakeholders, which might probably hold relevant data are welcome to contact us in order to introduce their data into the upcoming assessment.

An English and updated version of the textbook on Regulatory Toxicology (eds. F-X. Reichl, M. Schwenk) is now published at Springer publishing house. It contains several contributions by FoBiG staff Karin Heine, Martin Hassauer and Klaus Schneider on topics such as reference values, data quality evaluation and assessment factors.

Two staff members of FoBiG are co-authors on a published article within the April issue of German Journal "Arbeitsmedizin – Sozialmedizin – Umweltmedizin" (ASU). If you are interested please find the directory in German here.

Our most recent publication summarizes the results on lead exposure from food based on new food consumption data (German food consumption survey).
The manuscript as accepted for publication in Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A is available online.