On June 5, 2016 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a scientific report entitled “Overview of existing methodologies for the estimation of non-dietary exposure to chemicals from the use of consumer products and via the environment.” The report compiles and summarizes “relevant information on non-dietary exposure derived from the use of consumer products and via the environment (dust, air, etc.).” Specific focus of the report is on algorithms and toolboxes estimating the external dose of a particular chemical through different routes and sources of exposure. These algorithms and toolboxes are described in guidance documents by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The report also provides sources of information on default values for exposure factors that can be used when no measured values are available (e.g. for body weight, dermal factors, consumer product use, activity factors, inhalation rates, or incidental soil ingestion rates). Lastly, the EFSA report gives a few examples on the use of some of the discussed algorithms and toolboxes, e.g. for dermal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7) from thermal paper and inhalation exposure to BPA from indoor air.
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EFSA (June 5, 2016). “Overview of existing methodologies for the estimation of non-dietary exposure to chemicals from the use of consumer products and via the environment.”
