Author Archives: Thomas
Student creativity
Exam in a course on chemical risk assessment. Exam question: What makes Ecological Risk Assessment particularly challenging, in comparison to Human Health Risk Assessment? Student Answer: It’s hard to know whether a Daphnia is suffering from schizophrenia or depression. Who could argue against that?
New Publication: Conceptual Framework for Mixture Risk Assessment
We just published the following policy analysis in ”Environmental Science and Technology”: Thomas Backhaus, Michael Faust: “Predictive environmental risk assessment of chemical mixtures: a conceptual framework” DOI:10.1021/es2034125. Abstract: Environmental risks of chemicals are still often assessed substance-by-substance, neglecting mixture effects. This may result in risk underestimations, as the typical exposure is towards multi-component chemical “cocktails”. We use the two well established mixture toxicity concepts (Concentration Addition (CA) and Independent Action (IA)) for providing a tiered outline for environmental hazard and … Continue reading
a new project: NICE
NICE week, that! We’ve just been awarded the resources for a “strong research environment”, funded by the Swedish Research Council (Formas). The project’s acronym is NICE, which stands for “Novel Instruments for effect-based assesment of chemical pollution in coastal ecosystems”. Formas is funding the research environment with 25 million SEK (roughly 2.8 million €) over a period of 5 years. I’ll provide more details soon, we’ll put up a dedicated website for NICE asap. But for a starter, here’s the … Continue reading
Presentations from NAS Workshop on Mixtures and Cumulative Risk Assessment
Now this is what a call a thorough documentation of a workshop (and an incredible time-sink), but check for yourself… The National Academy of Sciences conducted a workshop on Mixtures and Cumulative Risk Assessment in July . And they have put many of the talks of online. Tons to of materials to listen to, read and think about. Strict human toxicology / health assessment perspective and very US-centred (obviously) – but the principles hold anyway. Thomas
Comments to the SCHER opinion on mixture (eco)toxicity
The public consultation on the ”opinion concerning Toxicity and Assessment of Chemical Mixtures” by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) and the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) ended on the 15th of September. Below are the comments that I submitted. For the ease of reading things in context, I first provide the inital question, then the reaction of the Scientific Committees (all of which are … Continue reading
A small difference that matters…
Maybe it’s because those two icons looks so similar? Or perhaps people want to “spread the news”? Whatever it is, the scenario is always the same: Somebody sends around an email to a group of people, containing perhaps an invitation to a conference, a request, a question or something similar. And of course, all recipients are listed in plain sight in the “to” field. So events follow their their natural c(o)urse: a couple of minutes later, your inbox becomes flooded … Continue reading
Last week’s ECETOC workshop on mixture toxicity
ECETOC, the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals, conducted a 2-day workshop on mixture toxicity and risk assessment last week in Berlin. Around 80 (my estimate) toxicologists and ecotoxicologists, coming from industry (obviously the majority), academia and regulation. The first day was occupied with a collection of presentations on various topics, covering (amongst others) the recently published WHO/ICPS workshop report, the MCR (maximum cumulative ratio) concept, the draft opinion of the EU Scientific Committees on mixture toxicity assessment, … Continue reading
Draft opinion of EU scientific committees on mixture toxicity published
The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) and the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) have just published their draft opinion concerning Toxicity and Assessment of Chemical Mixtures. The text (PDF) can be downloaded here. According to the procedures for stakeholder dialogue, comments to the opinion can be submitted until the 9th of September. As the opinion is (partly) a comment on the “state of the art … Continue reading
New publications
We just finished two manuscripts that are online now: Silva, E., Rajapakse, N., Scholze, M., Backhaus, T., Ermler, S., Kortenkamp A. Joint effects of heterogeneous estrogenic chemicals in the E-Screen – exploring the applicability of concentration addition. Tox Sciences, in press doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfr103 Backhaus, T., Porsbring, T., Arrhenius, A., Brosche, S., Johansson, P., Blanck, H. Single substance and mixture toxicity of 5 pharmaceuticals and personal care products to marine periphyton communities, Env. Tox. Chem, in press doi:10.1002/etc.586 The first one provides … Continue reading