4th Meeting of the Chairs and Secretariats of Commission and Agency Scientific Committees and Panels involved in risk assessment

On 4 and 5 November 2008 EFSA hosted the 4th meeting of the Chairs and Secretariats of Commission and Agency Scientific Committees and Panels involved in risk assessment. The meeting was jointly chaired by EFSA’s Executive Director, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, and the Director General of the European Commission’s DG Health and Consumers, Robert Madelin.

The aim of these annual meetings is to share experiences and best practices on risk assessment in order to improve its quality and communication and thereby improve support to risk managers’ decisions.

At this meeting, representatives of the Scientific Committees, Panels and Secretariats of EU Agencies and Commission Directorates-General considered scientific issues of common interest related to risk assessment and identified areas and topics for further cooperation. 

Items on the agenda included:

• Update on recent results in the field of nanotechnology risk assessment
• Transparency and terminology in risk assessment 
• Risk-benefit assessment, data collection and emerging risks 
• Developments in the Transatlantic and International Risk Assessment Dialogue, which aims at facilitating a global dialogue among risk assessment practitioners in the EU and beyond 
• Good Risk Assessment Practices 
• Options for further cooperation in risk assessment