On 26 March 2019 two Horizon2020-funded projects, EDC-MixRisk and EuroMix, held a joint stakeholder workshop, entitled The Chemical Cocktail Challenge, at Thon Hotel EU, Brussels. This workshop was organised to gather key scientists, researchers, policy makers, and stakeholders from authorities, industry and civil society. The aim of the workshop was to highlight the main results and conclusions from the two projects, and their implications for future needs for chemical mixture risk assessment. Both projects presented key results and demonstrated new tools and approaches for risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals (mixtures) and how these could benefit future European food and chemical safety policy.

Abstracts from the joint morning session can be found here.

In total, 116 participants attended the joint stakeholder workshop with representation from the European Member States and the associated countries, as well as the USA, Canada and Japan.

Abstracts from the EuroMix afternoon session can be found here.

Human biomonitoring studies show that people have a considerable number of human-made chemicals in their bodies. European regulations stipulate the need to consider the potential mixture effect in the nearby future. EuroMix has delivered an open web-based data and model platform for exposure, hazard and risk assessment.

EuroMix aimed to establish novel testing and assessment strategies for chemical mixtures, to develop appropriate mixture risk assessment methodology and to implement this in a well-accessible inter-operational data and model platform.

Eleven European Member States tested the EuroMix data and model platform by performing dietary exposure assessments including a large number of chemicals. They also carried out case studies addressing multiple exposure routes of bisphenols and pesticides. These case studies should be seen as a try-out and not as a real risk assessment at this stage. Many different stakeholders were trained on the use of the EuroMix models.  

Risk assessment of chemical mixtures is often hampered by a lack of data. The EuroMix consortium developed a test strategy aiming to be cost-effective and to reduce animal testing. EuroMix tested a large number of chemicals affecting three adverse outcomes; liver steatosis, skeletal malformation and endocrine disruption. The test data will become available via the web-based EuroMix data and model platform and can be used in risk assessment of chemical mixtures.

The results will be presented and discussed as part of a workshop, The Chemical Cocktail Challenge, at Thon Hotel EU, Brussels, on 26 March 2019. This workshop is organised jointly with the EDC-MixRisk project, highlighting the main results and conclusions from the two Horizon2020-funded projects, EDC-MixRisk and EuroMix, and their implications for future needs for chemical mixture risk assessment.

A summary on the EuroMix project has been published on the CORDIS website in six languages.

To read the summary please click here.

EuroMix organised stakeholder training for European and national authorities, industry, NGOs and researchers in Amsterdam, Netherlands on March 11 and 12, 2019. Forty stakeholders participated in the training.

The aim of the training was to support understanding of the approach for improving risk assessment of chemical mixtures developed by EuroMix in line with international guidance and to give hands-on training in the use of the EuroMix toolbox for mixture risk assessment.

The participants performed exercises using the EuroMix toolbox on assessment of combined dietary exposure to a mixture. The possibilities in the toolbox to handle lack of toxicity data using TTC values and to use QSAR to identify substances to be included in the mixture assessment were tried out in practical exercises. The participants also calculated relative potency factors using benchmark dose modelling using the EuroMix toolbox.

The training was highly appreciated by the participants and they all reflected on how they can make use of the methodology and tools developed by EuroMix approach in the future.

Further training for stakeholders will also be given as webinars in April 2019.

For any questions on EuroMix training please contact:

Johanna Zilliacus, Horizontal activity leader for training in EuroMix, Karolinska Institutet. E-mail: johanna.zilliacus@ki.se

EuroMix researchers have reviewed the current legislative requirements for risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals via multiple exposure routes, with a focus on human health and particularly on food-related chemicals. The aim was to identify regulatory needs and current approaches for this type of risk assessment as well as challenges of the implementation of appropriate and harmonized guidance at international level. The resulting overview of the current legal requirements has just been published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology. For details, check this link.

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WHO has recently published a call for experts on dietary risk assessment of chemical mixtures.

The objective of this call is to identify qualified scientists willing to serve as experts in the forthcoming expert consultations on risk assessment of mixtures that will take place in WHO HQ – Geneva on 16 to 19 April 2019. The aim of the consultation is to analyse case studies, to report on the results and to develop appropriate guidance for dietary risk assessment of chemical mixtures at international level and recommendations to WHO Member States to allow a practical implementation.

For more details please access the call here.

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The EuroMix project organised a Continuing Education Course about the EuroMix research emphasis and the EuroMix toolbox at the EUROTOX meeting in Brussels on the 2nd of September 2018. EUROTOX is the largest scientific meeting for toxicologists in Europe and this year almost 1500 people attended representing more than 60 countries.

This meeting attracts scientists as well as people working in regulatory agencies and industry. The course was one of six courses that were offered and in total 51 people attended the EuroMix course. The course was held between 10:30 -16:00, so there was enough time to present some of the work in more detail and to offer hands-on demonstration of Monte Carlo Risk Assessment (MCRA 8.2).

Roland Solecki, Jacob van Klaveren, Marc Kennedy, Cecile Karrer and Hubert Dirven from the EuroMix project presented the project as well as Heli Hollnagel who works as toxicologist for the Dow Chemical company.

Presentations were well received and there was good interaction with participants through questions and discussions. Many people were interested in receiving additional training in MCRA. These courses will be offered in 2019.

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EuroMix activities were presented at the joint meeting of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES) and the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), which took place from August 27 – 30 in Ottawa, Canada.

The EuroMix related session was titled  «Aggregate Exposure and Cumulative Risk Assessments in the EuroMix project».

It was chaired by Natalie von Goetz (ETH Zurich and Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, Switzerland) and Cecile Karrer (ETH Zurich, Switzerland).

The following topic were presented:

«Identification of Key Mixtures in European Countries and Assessment of Consequential Exposures»,  presented by Amélie Crépet, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), France.

«Verification of Aggregated Exposure to Bisphenols from Diet and Cosmetics – The Human Biomonitoring Study from the Eu Project Euromix». This topic should have been presented by Monica Andreassen, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Norway. Due to illness this was changed and the presentation was held by Cecile Karrer.

«Aggregate Exposure and Cumulative Risk Assessment of the Bisphenols BPA, BPS, BPF, and BPAF for the French Population», presented by Cecile Karrer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Switzerland:

«Aggregate and Cumulative Exposure to Pyrethroids of French Population», presented by Marie Vanacker, ANSES, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, France:

«Taking Account of Variability and uncertainty in Cumulative Risk Assessment», presented by Waldo de Boer, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands.

About 40 attendants listened to the talks and there were several questions and comments, which showed the broad interest in the topic.

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The Belgian Society of Toxicology and Ecotoxicology (BelTox) will organize the 54th Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology from 2 to 5 September, 2018, in Brussels. The theme for 2018 is “Toxicology Out of the Box”. More information and registration can be found here. Please find detailed programme here.

The 2018 EUROTOX Brussels congress not only offers you an innovative scientific programme, but also Continuing Education Courses (CEC) to help you accelerate your career. One of these CECs (CEC1 – Exposure, hazard and risk assessment of mixtures of pesticides / chemicals in food using the tools developed in the  EuroMix project) is organised by EuroMix. The agenda for the course can be found here.

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EuroMix researchers have just published a new scientific article based on results from the EuroMix project on PBPK modeling of different bisphenol analogs. For details check the link: https://zenodo.org/record/1309972#.W0cvRNL7RaR