Synoptic document

Commission of the European Communities, Synoptic Document No. 7. Draft of Provisional List of Monomers and Additives Used in the Manufacture of Plastics and Coatings Intended to Come into Contact with Foodstuffs, Commission Document CS/PM/2356, Brussels (15 May, 1994). 

The background to the forthcoming harmonisation of standards and testing procedures for plastics in contact with water is outlined and a brief discussion is presented on the expected unified tests, the synoptic documents in which raw materials, which pass these tests, will be included and the process optimisation carried out by Ticona to conform to the new requirements. (Kunststoffe, 92, No.2, 2002, p.77-9)... 

The Synoptic document collects all the substances used for the manufacturing of plastic materials which were notified to the European Commission and which have been evaluated or are currently being evaluated by the SCF. It includes the SCF evaluations and the legal status of these substances at EU level. 

Synoptic Document (updated 15 January 2002) European Commission, Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General, http //cpf.jrc.it/webpack/. 

The Commission of the European Communities provides in Synoptic Document N, 7 [4] a provisional list of additives used for the production of food contact plastics. This Synoptic Document anticipates a Directive on additives for food contact plastics. One hundred of the most important additives were selected from this provisional list after extensive consultation with researchers in the field and with representatives from European industry (Food Contact Additives Panel (FCA) sector group of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC). 

EC Directive 90/128/EEC controls the safety of plastics food packaging materials by limiting through a positive list the substances permitted to be used as monomers and other starting substances for the production of plastics. After monomers the European Commission will regulate plastics additives. The additives used in plastics intended for food contact are listed in Commission working documents ( Synoptic Documents ). This project was started on the basis of Synoptic Document N. 5 and for the final selection of additives the Synoptic Document N, 7 [4] was used. 

Entries for each substance provide the structural formula, the CAS number and the PM reference number, which is the number by which substances are indexed by the Commission services e.g. in Directives and Synoptic Documents. Alternative names whether systematic lUPAC nomenclature or trivial names, are given as a further aid to... 

Synoptic document N. 7. Draft of provisional list of monomers and additives used in the manufacture of plastics and coatings intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. Commission document CS/PM/2356. Brussels, 15 May 1994. 

The European Commission provides in Synoptic Document No.7 [1] published in 1990, a provisional list of additives that can be used for the production of food... 

Synoptic Document No.7, Draft of provisional list of monomers and... 

This synoptic document [6] published in Belgium anticipates an EU Directive on additives used in food contact plastics. In 1998, van Lierop and co-workers [7] in support of what was at the time a future Directive, selected 100 of the most important polymer additives to establish a reference collection. 

Although the additives are listed in Synoptic document No.7 [6], this document is provisional, and it is still undecided exactly how control on their use would be best exercised. The two most likely forms of control are a restriction on the migration of the specific substances to food or food simulants (SML) or controls on the composition of the plastic (QM). Several studies have been carried out to provide data on this topic, to relate the maximum level of residual substance in the finished plastic (QM limit) with the amount of substance migrating to foods or food simulants under defined conditions (SML limit). Feigenbaum [15] identified the substances in the polymer with the aid of a reference collection of additives. In subsequent parts of that work, a mathematical model was then developed to relate SM values to QM values. It will be necessary to validate the migration model by generating the necessary experimental data. 

For additives, on the other hand, the list is a partial list currently comprising 289 substances fully evaluated by the SCF whose toxicological characteristics do not necessitate the imposition of any restriction on use other than the overall migration limit. 204 additional substances, fully evaluated by the SCF and 185 of which require a restriction on their use according to the SCF, will be added to the list before long. All of the more important information on the evaluation of substances is to be found in the document entitled Synoptic which is to be distributed on the Internet (address http //cpf.jrc.it/webpack/). 

According to two FDA guidance documents issued in 2005, and presented in synoptic form below,... 

An attempt has been made to follow seasonal variations in the distribution of particulate copper and chlorophyll a in the Straits of Florida6. No consistent correlation was found between particulate copper and chlorophyll a. The difficulties associated with these types of measurements are discussed by Spencer and Brewer32, who sought to show seasonal variation of copper, zinc, and nickel levels in the Gulf of Maine and the Sargasso Sea. For the Gulf of Maine, they estimated the total amount of copper available to be the order of 150 mg/m2 for the period March to October, whereas the estimated uptake by phytoplankton based on a Cu/P ratio of 0.0065 was 28 mg/m2 for the same period. Their results clearly show the need for synoptic data to document any seasonal variations due to uptake. 

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