Addressing Chemical Mixtures: Opportunities for the REACH revision

Chemical mixtures pose hazards to human health and the environment. The health effect of a chemical mixture can be different from, and greater than, the sum of the effects of the individual chemicals within the mixture. Exposure to multiple chemicals at low levels can be harmful even if each individual chemical is present at a level that has been classified as “safe.”

Risk assessments generally focus on one chemical at a time. This approach does not reflect the real-life exposures that people experience. In this EDC Strategies Partnership webinar, Dr. Christina Rudén will explain why assessing the risk of individual chemicals is not sufficient to protect health.

She will explain the need to add a “Mixture Assessment Factor” which adjusts the acceptable exposure level for each individual chemical downwards to provide a protective margin for mixture effects. Over 250 scientists have urged the European Commission to address mixtures to address these risks in the forthcoming revision of the European Union’s Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) regulation. These points are relevant for risk assessment and regulation in the US and other countries as well.