On August 1, 2013 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a scientific opinion on priority topics for the development of risk assessment guidance. In the scientific opinion, EFSA’s Scientific Committee, which was charged with the task, identifies four areas requiring the development of new guidance: the interpretation of epidemiological studies, the use of weight of evidence approach in risk assessment, the identification of biological relevance in toxicology and the risk assessment of imports. Further, the Scientific Committee states that the guidance documents on the harmonization of the assessment of human exposure and the terminology in risk assessment require updating. The scientific opinion is part of EFSA’s effort at developing a guidance review framework. Goal is the harmonization of risk assessment. The Scientific Committee considers that encouraging wider collaboration and engagement with other international activities are important steps towards harmonizing risk assessment approaches effectively.
Reference
EFSA Scientific Committee (2013). “Scientific Opinion on Priority topics for the development of risk assessment guidance by EFSA’s Scientific Committee”. EFSA Journal 2013;11(8):3345 [20 pp.].
