Industry bias found in EFSA working group on risk assessment for toxic chemicals

In February 2012, EFSA has published an own-initiative opinion on a concept called “Threshold for Toxicological Concern” (TTC). This concept has been heavily promoted by industry, notably the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), a food and biotech lobby group. NGOs including Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe are worried about the impacts of EFSA endorsing this concept, because it would allow for misleading ‘safe levels of exposure’ for many chemicals which have not been fully tested for toxicity (report attached). It now appears that numerous experts on EFSA’s TTC working group have conflicts of interest with the same industry pushing for the TTC approach.