EFSA has set a new deadline for completion of two pilot assessments on the risks posed by humans by residues of multiple pesticides in food. The full risk assessments of the cumulative effects of pesticides on the human nervous and thyroid systems are expected in June 2019.
The assessments were originally scheduled for publications by the end of the year but the deadline was extended to address comments received from a public consultation on how the cumulative assessment groups of pesticides to be used in the assessments were established.
The new assessments will benefit from recent work carried out for EFSA which enables a more precise use of consumption data and of information on the effects that processing of food has on residue levels.
Work published in June 2019 will also include an uncertainty analysis that will help interested parties to understand how the results may be affected by limitations in scientific knowledge and assumptions used in the process.