On January 8, 2014 the chemical news agency ChemicalWatch reported the launch of a new European project on chemical mixture toxicity carried out by the EU’s Directorate-General Joint Research Center (JRC). The project is to explore in vitro methods and mathematical models to characterize and predict toxic effects of chemical mixtures. Maurice Whelan, head of the JRC’s Systems Toxicology unit, asserted in the article that the project will focus on the mode-of-action of toxic effects caused by chemical exposures. With around 6 000 substances being used in food contact materials in Europe, the study of mixture toxicity is also of significant relevance to predict toxic effects of food contact substances. The European Union Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL Ecvam) argues that considering the large quantity of chemical exposures via different products and pathways, the assessment of combined exposures and chemical mixture may be “more important than the assessment of individual substances”.
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Chemical Watch (January 8, 2014). “European agency to launch project on chemical mixture toxicity.”
