EU biocides authorities settle how criteria to identify endocrine disruptors for biocides will be realized; criteria to apply from June 7, 2018; ECHA and EFSA prepare final guidance document
Diabetes cases reach 382 million
Press agency Reuters reports on diabetes epidemic, expected rise of 55 % until 2035
Sweden has wide support in the court case on EDC criteria
Sweden took EC to court due to failure to adopt EDC criteria by the end of 2013, case now gained support of European Parliament and Council along with Member States
Studies review human exposures and effects of micro- and nanoplastics
Three studies investigate micro- and nanoplastics – source, organ deposition, and reproductive effects; detect up to 240,000 plastic particles/L in bottled water with 90% being nanoplastics; find microplastics in human lung, intestine, and kidney tissues; polyethylene particles found to affect placental function in mice
Strategy for assessing EDCs
Dutch institute for public health (RIVM) publishes reports showing need for strategy to evaluate endocrine disrupting properties of chemicals
11th amendment to EU plastic FCM regulation
EU Commission publishes 11th amendment to plastic FCM regulation, authorizes 2 new food contact substances, changes specific migration limits for 2 existing Union List substances
New test methods for EDCs needed
JRC expert survey identifies gaps in test methods for evaluating endocrine disruptors; new methods for thyroid, metabolic, immune disorders, as well as hormone-related cancers seen as priority
Using ToxCast data to assess food chemicals
Scientists explore the utility of-throughput screening data for hazard assessment and toxicological read-across of food-relevant chemicals; observe some biological targets to lack validated toxicity associations; demonstrate application in identifying out-of-domain compounds
Studies report on oligomer migration from food packaging
Scientists perform migration experiments for oligomer analysis; one study detects eight chemicals including six non-intentionally added oligomers to migrate from multilayer biodegradable teacups; second study reports on oligomer migration from polycarbonate tableware as ‘hidden source’ of bisphenol A (BPA)
Review of NIAS analytics in paper FCMs
Scientists review sources of non-intentionally added substances in paper and board food contact materials, discuss migration studies, analytical approaches, research needs