Scientific Committee News

The Scientific Committee is a central organ of ECETOC, meeting 6 times a year to peer-review and guide the work programme. ECETOC members have access online to detailed minutes of each meeting. It is the intention of this column to share key committee developments with a wider audience.

Input to European Commission committees' preliminary report on risk assessment methodologies and approaches for mutagenic and carcinogenic substances.

In response to the call for comments from Directorate General Health & Consumer Protection (DG Sanco)'s committees: (SCHER, SCCP, SCENIHR) on the aforementioned report ECETOC's Scientific Committee expressed its support for this well written and accurate report which outlined the most current thinking on the subject. The Scientific Committee also welcomed their expression of the concept that certain genotoxic carcinogens may act through threshold pathways such as DNA repair and thus would require a DNEL instead of a DMEL approach and their acknowledgment that MOE and TCC approaches be viewed as proper DMEL derivation methodologies for mutagenic and carcinogenic substances.

Updates to the science strategy and work plan

At the end of 2008, the Committee undertook a review of activities within each strategic science area (SSA) and the work plan for 2009 and beyond. Members can download them from our members' site. This review process was stimulated by some external speakers, who contributed to shaping ECETOC's work programme in line with regulatory motions: Dr. Paul Whitehouse (UK Environment Agency for England and Wales) was invited to talk about the Water Framework Directive and its impact on chemicals management; Dr. Gernot Klotz (Cefic Research and Innovation) joined the November meeting to update the Committee on indoor air quality issues and their link to chemicals and sensitive sub-populations; while Dr. Madhuri Singal (Research Institute for Fragrance Materials) kindly explained the respiratory sciences programme of RIFM.

Involvement in the OSIRIS Project under FP6

Member of the Committee, Dr. Watze de Wolf (DuPont) is representing ECETOC in the Advisory Group of OSIRIS, a project under the EU 6th Framework Programme. At the stakeholder workshop of the OSIRIS consortium,17 November 2008 he was asked to give his opinion on behalf of ECETOC, on the desired outcome of this project. He pointed out that the project would only be useful if it will meet the needs of- and will be delivered in time for the implementation of REACH. He also stressed that industry as well as authorities within Europe (ECHA and other) and beyond would need to accept the outcome; it should be accessible to all partners, and the system be kept up-to-date in the future.

Dr. John Doe, Syngenta

Scientific Committee Chairman