SCENIHR releases Risk Assessment on genotoxic and carcinogenic substances

The European Commission and the Scientific Committees on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER), Consumer Products (SCCP) and Emerging and Newly Identified Risks (SCENIHR) have adopted an opinion on the “Risk Assessment methodologies and approaches for genotoxic and carcinogenic substances”. This opinion was released after a scientific review and a public consultation, to which the Health and Environment Alliance, and the European Environment Bureau made a joint submission.

The joint submission disagreed with some of the observations made in the draft opinion, noting that some conclusions were unsatisfactory from the scientific point of view, and that relevant information was missing from the analysis of the situation. The opinion concludes that each compound requires a case-by-case approach in order to fully evaluate each genotoxic and/or carcinogenic substance. The submission to the public consultation noted that society would be better protected by retaining the “no threshold dose” principle for risk assessment, and thereby exemplifying the precautionary principle in action: protecting us when safety or risks are significantly unknown, which is the case here.

This opinion may be used in the evaluation of carcinogenic and genotoxic substances under the Authorization process of REACH chemicals policy.

Written on 15 April 2009.

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