Committee on Toxicity

A ruling has been passed by the European Commission s scientific committee on toxicity, ecotoxicity and the environment, (the CSTEE), that the use of acetyl tributyl citrate as a plasticiser in children s toys is safe. It has also ruled that the current risk assessment models are reliable. Brief details are given in this little article. 

STEVENS URETHANE UK,DEPT.OF TRADE IND. UK,LABORATORY OF THE GOVERNMENT CHEMIST SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON TOXICITY,ECOTOXICITY ENVIRONMENT AMERICAN COUNCIL ON SCIENCE HEALTH EUROPEAN COMMISSION TNO PLASTICS RUBBER RESEARCH INSTITUTE DENMARK EU EUROPEAN COMMUNITY EUROPEAN UNION FRANCE NETHERLANDS SCANDINAVIA UK USA WESTERN EUROPE WESTERN EUROPE-GENERAL... 

Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment (SCTEE). Directorate General for Consumer Policy and Consumer Health Protection, Brussels, 1999. 

England - Department of Health - Committee on toxicity of chemicals in food consumer products and the environment - Statement on the reproductive effects of caffeine. Online. Available HTTP (accessed 2 April 2003). 

National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Toxicity Testing and Assessment of Environmental Agents (2007) Toxicity testing in the 21st century a vision and a strategy. National Academies Press, Washington, DC... 

United Kingdom Department of Health (1995) Annual report of the Committees on Toxicity, Mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment. London, Her Majesty s Stationery Office. 

The investigation provided evidence of limited migration of both TPA and IPA. The UK Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) advised that the levels of TPA and IPA found in foods in this survey were not of concern for public health based on available information. Nevertheless, they recommended that further studies be carried out for TPA and IPA to see if they have endocrine disrupter activity. 

The UK Committee on Toxicity stated (incorrectly) that toxicologists use inbred strains (16) and went on to say that... 

Committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, C.P.A.T.E. (2002) Risk assessment of mixtures of pesticides and similar substances. London Food Standards Agency. 

When sufficient information has been accumulated this is assessed by the FDA in the USA or the Committee on Toxicity (COT) and other committees in the UK. The committees, consisting of various scientifically and medically qualified individuals, determine whether the substance is safe to be used as an additive as well as the level at which it can be added to food. This level is known as the acceptable daily intake, or ADI. How this is determined will be discussed in the next chapter (see pp. 299-301). In the USA an amendment to the Food and Drug regulations, known as the Delaney Clause, was introduced which specified that no additive shall be deemed safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal or it is found, after tests which are appropriate for the evaluation... 

The editorial refers to the attempts of the UK Government s Committee on Toxicity to find the safe level of daily consumption of pyridoxine. In July 1997 the committee recommended that the sale of pyridoxine in, for instance, health-food shops would be restricted to doses of 10 mg/day. Doses between 10 and 50 mg would be restricted to sale at pharmacies and doses of 50 mg and above would be available only on prescription. Contrary to these UK recommendations the Committee of the US National Academy of Science concluded that there were no convincing reports of adverse events at doses of up to 200 mg/day. Paying attention to the fact that recommendations tend to be more cautious than might seem necessary from the available evidence, the US experts halved the 200 mg/day dose to define their limit as 100 mg/day. 

In another letter to the editor (12) it was mentioned that the suspicion of partiality about the Committee on Toxicity becomes more plausible when one considers the issue of homocysteine. This intermediate metabolite may well turn out to be of greater importance as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease than cholesterol and blood pressure. Raised homocysteine concentrations appear to be accessible to treatment with pyridoxine (100 mg/day) together with vitamin B12 and foUc acid (13). Furthermore, the statement that there is no good evidence for the efficacy of pyridoxine in any disease, apart from depression, was criticized, because this ignores important studies in autism, pregnancy outcome, asthma, and sickle-cell anemia (12). 

The WHO has set a temporary acceptable daily intake for saccharin, including its calcium, potassium, and sodium salts, at up to 2.5 mg/kg body-weight. In the UK, the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products, and the Environment (COT) has set an acceptable daily intake for saccharin and its calcium, potassium, and sodium salts (expressed as saccharin sodium) at up to 5 mg/kg body-weight. ... 

Aspartame has also been considered by other bodies including the UK Committee on Toxicity and the European Commission s Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General s Scientific Committee on Food (SCF). In December, 2002, the SCF concluded that, on the basis of its review of all the data in animals and humans available to date, there is no evidence to suggest that there is a need to revise the outcome of the earlier risk assessment or the... 

National Research Council (2002) Biosolids Applied to Land Development of Chemical and Pathogen Standards. Committee on Toxicants and Pathogens in Biosolids Applied to Land. Washington. DC National Academy Press. 

COT, Statement on combined exposure to 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile (CS) and PAVA (Nonivamide) sprays, COT/OO/Od, dated January 2006, Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food Consumer Products and the Environment, UK Department of Health, London, 2006. 

At EU level the Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment (CSTEE) has established standard protocols for the extraction of phthalates from plasticized PVC toys. In 1999 the European Commission banned the use of DEHP in PVC toys and other easily mouthed items intended for children under 3 years of age as a precaution against the uncertain impact of phthalates on young children [127]. 

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