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Better protect human health through PARC program

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The LNS Health Protection Department drives the Luxembourgish contribution to allow new orientations in European regulatory policies that safeguard our health and the environment.

 

Safety and protection of Luxembourg citizens from chemical exposure is governed by European chemicals policy, comprising a diverse set of legislation assessing and managing chemicals in the environment, in consumer products, in food and at the workplace. The LNS Health Protection Department is driving forward the contribution of Luxembourg in the European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC). As such, the Department is highly committed to integration of new science in chemicals policy and risk assessment that accelerate actions to better protect human health and the environment.

 

European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC)

PARC supports the implementation of the European Union’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability in line with the European Green Deal’s “Zero pollution” ambition for a toxic free environment. It is a 7-year science-policy partnership of unprecedented scale to address current, emerging and novel chemical safety challenges and enabling the transition to the Next Generation Risk Assessment . Overall, close to 200 institutions are working in the areas of public health or environment from 29 countries.

 

PARC is governed by five Directorates-General of the European Commission (DG-RTD, DG-GROW, DG-ENV, DG-SANTE and JRC) and the relevant ministries of the countries involved. Partners include the European agencies responsible for implementing European chemicals policies, i.e. the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Environment Agency (EEA), furthermore the national institutes in charge of regulatory servicing, and research organisations including universities and public research institutes.

 

For Luxembourg, LNS has been assigned as Grant Signatory and National Hub Contact Point by the Ministère de la Santé et de la Sécurité sociale.  As Grant Signatory, LNS has onboarded the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), the University of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) as affiliated research organizations. As National Hub Contact Point, LNS is ensuring the coordination and exchange within the Member State, including the communication to the different administrations working in the domain of chemicals regulation in environment, soil, water, and food.

 

Aggregated exposure assessment: one of the cornerstones in Next Generation Risk Assessment

On 23 and 24 May 2023, the LNS Health Protection Department has welcomed part of the PARC consortium at its premises for a 2-day workshop on aggregated exposure. The topic is one of the spear points of PARC and implies the collaboration of nearly 30 European partners.

 

Chemical risk assessment has focused historically on risks coming from a single source of a chemical, like diet. However, individuals’ exposures to a chemical may occur from multiple sources (i.e. environment, diet and consumer products), by different routes of exposure (i.e. inhalation, ingestion and dermal), and at different times and locations (e.g. general life or work environment).

 

“Our lifestyles mean that we are constantly being exposed to chemicals, but the risks associated with the aggregation and combination of chemicals– emanating from several sources – in our environment are poorly understood”, explains Dr Ruth Moeller, senior project manager of PARC.

 

As part of the “One substance, one assessment” principle, we will study in PARC the aggregated exposure to plasticisers, including phthalates and their substitutes (e.g. adipates, citrates, and trimellitates). Plasticizers can be emitted continuously or intermittently from building materials, furniture, and consumer products (e.g., cosmetics, food contact materials, toys, and detergents), but can also be widely present in the outdoor or working environment (e.g. from waste management or construction sector). Thus, assessing the overall exposure will allow a better evaluation of the actual risk of the exposure to phthalates and their substitutes. These results will allow the European agencies to further strengthen the European chemicals policies for a better protection of the EU population.

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Our lifestyles mean that we are constantly being exposed to chemicals, but the risks associated with the aggregation and combination of chemicals– emanating from several sources – in our environment are poorly understood. It is particularly exciting to be part of the journey towards better anticipation of emerging risks in order to better and brighter protect our health and the environment.

Dr Ruth Moeller

Senior Project Manager

staff involved

staff involved

staff

Dr Moeller Ruth

Senior Project Manager