The European Commission opened a preliminary report entitled ‘Use of the Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) Approach for the Safety Assessment of Chemical Substances’  for public consultation.

The report was jointly written by the EC’s Scientific Committees on Consumer Products (SCCP), Health and Environment (SCHER) and Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR), following an EC mandate ‘to critically review the available scientific literature on the use of TCC approach. In particular, the Committees were asked to examine the applicability of the TTC approach in the human health risk assessment of chemical substances and the safety evaluation of cosmetic ingredients.’

According to an EC press release, the preliminary report ‘indicates that the principle of the TTC approach[, which is] currently used in relation to oral exposure to food contact materials, food flavourings and genotoxic impurities in pharmaceuticals, in itself is scientifically acceptable. However, the applicability of this principle for risk assessment in specific areas is dependent on the quality, quantity and relevance of the underlying toxicity database and a reliable estimation of the exposure to the chemical.’

• particulate matters including nano-materials since the knowledge is limited
• the endpoints pharmacological or microbiological effects since no database is available.’

The public consultation is open until the 2^nd January 2009. Interested parties are invited to send their comments on the preliminary opinion via this website.

Follow these links to find out more about the SCCP/SCHER/SCENIHR preliminary report, to download the full report, or to submit comments.