In an article published on February 26, 2019, the Danish Technical University’s National Food Institute (DTU Food) announced the publication of a new report by the Danish Centre on Endocrine Disruptors that provides “recommendations on how risk assessments can better take into account gaps in the current knowledge about the adverse effects of chemical substances.” The report is the result of a project commissioned by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and highlights that “risk assessments of endocrine disruptors should take better account of uncertainties relating to harmful effects to ensure the risk is not underestimated.”
The authors recommend consideration of additional uncertainty factors in, for example, risk assessments based on studies of adult laboratory animals. “This is because the adverse effects of endocrine disrupters can be much greater when exposed during sensitive periods (in utero, as a newborn or during puberty).” Further uncertainty factors, the report suggests, may also be needed due to current test methods for endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) “not [being] considered sufficiently sensitive.” The report goes on to note that there is possibly “no tolerable exposure limit to the various endocrine disrupters” and recommends “that risk assessments use a non-threshold approach as default when evaluating endocrine disruptors.”
Read more
Miriam Meister (February 26, 2019). “Do risk assessments of endocrine disruptors provide sufficient protection?” DTU Food
Reference
Danish Centre on Endocrine Disruptors (2019). “Report on Interpretation of knowledge on endocrine disrupting substances (EDs) – what is the risk?”
