Identification of Cumulative Assessment Groups of Pesticides
Meta data
The present document has been produced and adopted by the bodies identified above as author(s). In accordance with Article 36 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, this task has been carried out exclusively by the author(s) in the context of a grant agreement between the European Food Safety Authority and the author(s). The present document is published complying with the transparency principle to which the European Food Safety Authority is subject. It may not be considered as an output adopted by EFSA. EFSA reserves its rights, view and position as regards the issues addressed and the conclusions reached in the present document, without prejudice to the rights of the authors.
Abstract
The objective of the project was to identify common assessment groups (CAGs) for the pesticide active substances included in Annex I of Council Directive 91/414/EEC (up to 31st of May 2009). Initially, 120 substances were excluded for further consideration using objective criteria. For the remaining 224 substances information regarding e.g. name, chemical identity, pesticidal mode of action, and toxicological effects was collected. The establishment of CAGs was based on a tiered approach comprising up to four CAG levels spanning from grouping of all compounds having effects on a given target organ or tissue at CAG Level 1 to grouping at CAG Level 4 only those compounds for which a common mechanism of action could been established. Draft Assessment Reports (DARs) prepared for the “European Commission Programme for inclusion of Active Substances in Annex I of Council Directive 91/414/EEC (Articles 5 and 6 of Council Directive 91/414/EEC)” were used to identify the relevant target organs and tissues (end-points) for the toxicological effects of the active substances. For each relevant target all compounds exerting a toxicological effect were allocated to CAG Level 1. In the next step detailed toxicological information was scrutinized and compounds showing a common toxic effect on a phenomenological/specific effect basis in each target organ and tissue were grouped into CAGs at Level 2. Refined CAGs were established when it could be demonstrated that the compounds actually possess the same mode of action (CAG Level 3) or mechanism of action (CAG Level 4). All chemical and toxicological information that formed the basis for the establishment of CAGs was included in a searchable database.