Scientific report of the Endocrine Active Substances Task Force

Abstract

Discussions within the Scientific Committee and the Advisory Forum have called for the development of a common approach within EFSA towards endocrine active substances. The aim of this report by an internal EFSA task force is to clarify the state-of-play, and provide recommendations for scientific and communication issues. Both specific issues and new regulations make it necessary to follow up on recent developments with the EU bodies, Member States, and internationally, in order to avoid diverging assessment approaches and the duplication of work. The proposed actions for EFSA are to contribute to the work in progress under the auspices of DG Environment and to continue its participation in the ongoing OECD activities in the area of testing of chemicals. The development of a generally accepted risk assessment methodology is an additional challenge due to the complexity of the issues involved. Here, the task force recommends that EFSA continues its activities aimed at developing harmonised methodologies for risk assessment of combined exposures to endocrine active substances in food. EFSA should continue to build a dialogue to develop a common strategy with the EC, other EU bodies, Member States' Competent Authorities, international organisations and partners, as well as external experts and stakeholders on the before mentioned issues. In line with these recommendations, it is proposed that EFSA creates a working group of Panel experts and national experts to advise on prioritising the work on endocrine active substances. EFSA should also work with the experts in its Advisory Group on Risk Communications in conjunction with the communication experts from Member States, and continues to monitor and analyse media and stakeholder developments, in order to define a strategy for communications addressing both the collective group and specific endocrine active substances. © European Food Safety Authority, 2010 KEY WORDSEndocrine active substances, endocrine disrupters, hazard identification, risk assessment, method harmonisation, common strategy, risk communication SUMMARYThe issue of endocrine active substances touches upon the activities of several of the EFSA Units and Panels, recent examples being the risk assessment of bisphenol A, the hazard assessment of isoflavones and the implementation of the new regulation on plant protection products. Previous examples include contaminants like organotins, dioxins, PCBs, and hormone residues.Discussions within the Scientific Committee and the Advisory Forum have called for the development of a common approach within EFSA towards endocrine active substances. A first step in this process was to appoint a task force to identify trends and developments in the assessment of the health risks and risk communication issues EFSA may have to address. The aim of this report by the task force is to clarify the state-of-play, and provide recommendations for the scientific and communication issues.Current activities and developments within EFSA, European Commission, other Europ...

Environmentally Relevant Concentrations of Bisphenol A Interact with Doxorubicin Transcriptional Effects in Human Cell Lines

“…The worldwide production of synthetic chemicals, such as endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs), has grown exponentially in the last two decades. Among EDCs, which are classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “an exogenous substance or mixture that alters function(s) of the endocrine system, and consequently causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub) populations” (World Health Organization 2011) [1,2], Bisphenol A (BPA) appears as a paradigmatic case. Currently, human exposure to this compound is persistent and continuous, particularly through ingestion of contaminated food and beverages.…”