EFSA identifies topics for new cross-cutting guidance
EFSA’s Scientific Committee has carried out a review of its cross-cutting risk assessment Guidance Documents to identify gaps requiring either the development of new guidance or the revision of existing guidance. The Committee has recommended that new guidance be drafted in four areas: interpretation of epidemiological studies; use of the weight of evidenceA process in which all of the evidence relating to a decision is evaluated based on its strength and quality approach; biological relevanceAn event or occurrence is defined as having biological relevance if its size or implications are likely to have consequences for human health in toxicology; and import risk assessment. It also recommends that two Guidance Documents – on harmonisation of the assessment of human exposureConcentration or amount of a particular substance that is taken in by an individual, population or ecosystem in a specific frequency over a certain amount of time, and terminology in risk assessment – be updated. A timetable for these proposed projects will be drawn up in due course.