In a press release published on October 27, 2017, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) announced that it is supporting the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in developing practical guidance to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EFSA and ECHA have started working on the guidance document in October 2016 (FPF reported) with the aim to make the criteria for identifying EDCs, as proposed by the European Commission (EC), applicable. The BfR informed that it has carried out literature research and surveyed competent laboratories regarding the applicability and feasibility of methods to identify EDCs. On October 18-19, 2017, the BfR held a hearing with experts to discuss its research and survey. The results and recommendations of the hearing will be added as an annex to the guidance document. The hearing results will also be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, the BfR noted.

On July 4, 2017, EU Member States endorsed the EC’s proposal on criteria to identify EDCs in the field on plant protection products (FPF reported). On September 4, 2017, the EC officially adopted similar criteria to identify EDCs in the field of biocides (FPF reported). However, on October 4, 2017, the European Parliament rejected the EC’s proposed EDC criteria for pesticides in a plenary vote (FPF reported). The EC now has to draft a new version of the EDC criteria text for pesticides (FPF reported).

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BfR (October 27, 2017). “BfR unterstützt EFSA und ECHA bei der Entwicklung europäischer Leitlinien für die gesundheitliche Bewertung endokriner Disruptoren.(pdf; in German)

EurekAlert! (November 17, 2017). “BfR supports EFSA and ECHA with the development of European guidelines for the health assessment of endocrine disruptors.

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