Public consultation on the draft EFSA scientific reports on a cumulative dietary risk characterisation of pesticides that have acute effects on the nervous system and chronic effects on the thyroid
EFSA is finalising two pilot assessments of the cumulative effects of pesticide residues in food. These are retrospective assessments of the cumulative risks for the nervous system and the thyroid using monitoring data from 2014, 2015 and 2016 and are reported in the draft scientific reports on “Cumulative dietary risk characterisation of pesticides that have acute effects on the nervous system” and “Cumulative dietary risk characterisation of pesticides that have chronic effects on the thyroid”. These assessments were conducted as the third step of a sequential process.
The first step was the establishment of cumulative assessment groups (CAGs) of pesticides for their effects on the nervous system and the thyroid.
Establishment of cumulative assessment groups of pesticides for their effects on the nervous system
Establishment of cumulative assessment groups of pesticides for their effects on the thyroid
For the second step, cumulative exposure assessments were conducted using probabilistic modelling with two different software tools.
These pilot assessments represent an important step towards the inclusion of cumulative risk assessment in the annual reports on pesticide residues (article 32 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005). They use methodologies not commonly used for the assessment of single substances such as probabilistic modelling, expert knowledge elicitation, uncertainty analysis and risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals.
EFSA acknowledges the high complexity of this type of risk assessment and the associated risk communication. Although the methodologies applied to perform these risk assessments have been subject to previous public consultations before their adoption, a proper engagement of stakeholders on their application to the assessment of cumulative risks of pesticide residues is found to be crucial.
EFSA is therefore launching a public consultation on the third step of the project – risk characterisation – to ensure that communication of the results is transparent, and the reports contain enough details on the applied methodology, assumptions and scientific assessment. The collected comments will be used by EFSA to finalise its scientific reports and will also provide useful input for the future evolution of the methodology in the next phases of implementation of cumulative risk assessment.
Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by 15 November 2019. Please use the electronic templates provided hereto submit comments on the draft scientific report on “Cumulative dietary risk characterisation of pesticides that have acute effects on the nervous system” and here to submit comments on the draft scientific report on “Cumulative dietary risk characterisation of pesticides that have chronic effects on the thyroid”.
Please refer to the line and page numbers. If you encounter technical issues while filling-in the public consultation form, please make sure you clean the browser's history or switch browser. To submit additional data to support your comments or additional files, there is an upload function available in the tool (maximum file size 1 MB). You can also contact the Pesticide Residues Unit’s functional mailbox pesticides.mrl [at] efsa.europa.eu (pesticides[dot]mrl[at]efsa[dot]europa[dot]eu).
Please note that comments will not be considered if they:
- are submitted after the closing date of the public consultation;
- are not related to the contents of the document;
- contain complaints against institutions, personal accusations, irrelevant or offensive statements or material;
- are related to policy or risk management aspects, which are out of the scope of EFSA's activity.
EFSA will assess all comments which are submitted in line with the criteria above. The comments will be further considered by the relevant EFSA Panel and taken into consideration if found to be relevant.
Copyright-cleared contributions
Persons or entities participating in the EFSA Public Consultation are responsible for ensuring that they hold all the rights necessary for their submissions and consequent publication by EFSA. Comments should inter alia be copyright cleared taking into account EFSA’s transparency policy and practise to publish all submissions. In case your submission reproduces third party content in the form of charts, graphs or images, please ensure that the required prior permissions of the right holder have been obtained.
Publication of contributions
All comments submitted will be published. Comments submitted by individuals in a personal capacity will be presented anonymously. Comments submitted formally on behalf of an organisation will appear with the name of the organisation.