EFSA Scientific Colloquium N°7: Cumulative Risk Assessment of Pesticides to Human Health: the Way forward

EFSA’s 7th scientific colloquium “Cumulative Risk Assessment of Pesticides to Human Health: the Way forward was held in Parma on 28 and 29 November 2006. It was attended by some 100 participants from nearly all Member States, Bulgaria, Romania, Türkiye, USA, and Australia. The meeting proved very successful with useful considerations for the PPR Panel as well as for cumulative risk assessment (CRA) outside the pesticides remit.

The participants agreed that it was important to get started with CRA in a step-wise approach. The first priority will be substances that share a common mode of action (dose addition) for which data are already available in the US. Good models do exist and could be used. Pesticides that were prioritized for work on CRA (dose-addition) are: oligophosphates, carbamates, conazoles, pyrethroids, dicarboxyamides, spindle inhibitors, ptalimides, and dithiocarbamates. Methodologies are not yet defined and may vary regarding compound and type of exposure (acute, chronic). Guidelines will be needed for probabilistic modelling and cumulative exposure and cooperation between Member States, other bodies and EFSA will be necessary to establish these.