Minutes of the 5th meeting of EFSA’s CEP Panel working group on food contact materials now available online; continues risk-assessing several new FCMs, presents extensive summary of views on the current framework regulation
Public consultation on EFSA’s nano-guidance
EFSA publishes draft guidance on risk assessment of nanomaterials in food and feed; public consultation open until March 4, 2018
EFSA final scientific opinion on PFAS in food
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publishes final version of its opinion on risk to human health from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food; sets group tolerable weekly intake limit of 4.4 ng/kg body weight for four most commonly measured PFAS in humans
Endocrine effects of parabens
Scientists review evidence on paraben preservatives acting as estrogenic endocrine disruptors; certain effects observed in animals not confirmed in humans; studies on parabens’ effects on immune and nervous system lacking
Sweden addresses ‘cocktail effects’ and grouping of chemicals
Government of Sweden investigates how to consider chemicals’ ‘cocktail effects’ and regulate similar substances in groups within EU chemicals legislation
NGO analyzes EFSA’s scientific independence
Corporate Europe Observatory publishes report on EFSA’s independence, finds new transparency policy dysfuntional
Updated risk assessment highlights the need for stricter regulation on MOH in food
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) updates risk assessment on mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) in food; highest MOH levels found in vegetable oils; notes that data gaps exist, especially in mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) impact on toddlers; “extremely likely” that dietary exposure to MOAH is a concern for toddlers; EFSA recommendations aim to guide EU policy on allowable MOH levels in food
EFSA on epigenetics in risk assessment
EFSA publishes official report from the June 2016 colloquium on epigenetics in risk assessment
EFSA: Genotoxicity of mixtures
European Food Safety Authority publishes statement on genotoxicity assessment of chemical mixtures
Minderoo Foundation systematically maps human health effects from plastic-associated chemicals
Interactive and openly available, the Plastic Health Map summarizes human health outcomes of certain plastic-associated chemicals and particles as published by peer-review articles between 1960 and 2021; includes more than 3500 studies for 1557 chemicals; identifies gaps, including only 30% of chemicals have been investigated for health impacts, few studies in low-income countries