EUROPE – COM : Update of the working document on the evaluation of MRL confirmatory data following Article 12 and risk management decisions
1 December 2023
FRANCE : List of substances concerned by the Tax on Diffuse Pollution for 2024
30 December 2023
In April 2018, a group of scientists warned about the potential human health concern by using succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) fungicides. In May 2018, Anses conducted a self-referral to determine, based on the available data, whether the information and hypotheses mentioned by these scientists provided evidence in favour of exposure and risks that had not been taken into account in the assessment of the fungicidal active substances concerned. In January 2019, Anses published an Opinion concluding 1) that the level of chronic dietary exposure linked to each SDHI substance was low, in relation to the toxicological reference values (TRV) for each active substance taken individually and 2) that there was no health alert that could lead to the withdrawal of the marketing authorisations for these fungicides.
On 25 July 2019, Anses again conducted a self-referral to assess the risks associated with cumulative exposure to all SDHI substances via food (Referral No. 2019-SA-0135) and on 06 December 2019, to update the data in the scientific literature on SDHI substances published since their approval (Referral No. 2019-SA-0202). These self-referrals resulted in two Opinions published on 17 November 2023.
- Referral No. 2019-SA-0135
Anses applied two methods, including both “worst case” scenarios and TRV adjustments (see Referral No. 2019-SA-0202), to assess the cumulative risks of SDHI substances. The results obtained show that the safety thresholds for the health of French consumers are not exceeded, even with the TRVs revised downwards by Anses, for cumulative exposure to all the SDHI active substances.
- Referral No. 2019-SA-0202
Anses examined 14 SDHI active substances: 11 approved in the European Union, 2 no longer approved, and 1 under evaluation, corresponding to an in-depth examination of 39 TRVs. Following the assessment, Anses proposed to adjust downwards 11 of the 39 TRVs analysed by moderately reducing their current value by a reduction factor ranging from 1.5 to 3.3. The 28 existing TRVs were not challenged. These proposed adjustments, which are intended to provide greater protection, will be submitted by Anses to the European level so that they can be taken into account during the re-evaluation of the active substances concerned.
Anses indicates that SDHI substances are already included in the third French Total Diet Study (TDS), currently being deployed, to estimate the exposure of populations to chemical substances present in food, and in a campaign to measure the presence of plant protection products in soils carried out by INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment). Furthermore, two other projects are underway to better understand the effects of SDHI fungicides on living cells, using toxicological and mechanistic approaches.
To download (in french):
See also our previous articles:
FRANCE-ANSES: Update on the SDHI issue
FRANCE: ANSES conclusions on the assessment of SDHI are available
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