Expert workshops

07-08/Nov/2013 - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany
Expert workshop on extrapolation on hazard assessment

An expert workshop was organized on November 7-8, 2013, at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, to explore and evaluate approaches to extrapolate the hazard assessment of chemical substances across environmental and human endpoints as well as within environmental toxicology across different species, aiming at the systematic exploitation of toxicological information between different species and endpoints as well as for mixtures

The workshop was structured in three breakout group sessions to explore three areas of potential opportunities for species-species, endpoint-endpoint and single-compound-to-mixture extrapolation, within the scope of the REACH legislation. In depth discussions took place to evaluate: i) how information available for one species or endpoint can inform the hazard assessment of another species or endpoint; ii) how non-animal information can inform about adverse outcome pathways as basis for a predictive environmental and human hazard assessment; iii) how pharmacological models can be used for extrapolating from single-compound effects to mixture toxicity.
As a follow-up to this workshop recommendations on opportunities for a mechanism-based approach to extrapolate across human and environmental endpoints will be published in the peer-reviwed literature. This willl serve as an input to draft guidelines on extrapoaltion for hazard assessment.

All participants are grateful to Gerrit Schüürmann and Ralph Kühne for the hospitality and organisation of the meeting.