20. April 2023, Topic: Aquatic Ecotoxicology Soil Ecotoxicology Sediment Ecotoxicology Risk Assessment

Ecotox Centre webinar with Thomas Backhaus, 24 May 2023, 16:00-17:00

The Ecotox Centre invites you to a webinar with Prof. Thomas Backhaus (University of Gothenburg) on Wednesday, 24 May 2023 at 4 pm on "Regulatory risk assessment of mixtures of substances with the Mixture Assessment Factor".

The webinar will be held in German with simultaneous translation into French.

Zoom
(MeetingID: 89799263125; Passcode: 909409)

Abstract: Hazardous chemicals do not occur in the environment as single substances, but as complex mixtures of dozens of substances. Data show that such mixtures have a higher risk of toxic effects than single substances. This is also recognised in policy documents such as the new European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability published by the EU Commission in 2020. As a pragmatic tool to account for the risks from a mixture already during the risk and safety assessment of individual chemicals, Thomas Backhaus has developed an approach for determining a Mixture Assessment Factor (MAF, also called Mixture Allocation Factor), which is also supported by the Swedish Chemicals Agency. 

Thomas Backhaus will give an overview of the current discussions in policy and science and will show how the MAF can be estimated from the risk profile of a mixture. The approach will be applied to selected case studies. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of using the MAF for regulatory risk assessment of mixtures will be discussed.

More information: Report of the Swedish Chemicals Agency KEMI: PM 8/21: Improving the regulatory assessment of combination effects: steps towards implementing the mixture assessment factor (MAF) in chemical regulationDownload

Prof. Thomas Backhaus is a professor at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and works in the field of (eco-)toxicology and chemical risk assessment. His focus is on the assessment of chemical mixtures and regulatory (eco)toxicology.