Grouping and Read-Across Approaches for Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials

Agnes G. Oomen, Eric A. J. Bleeker, Peter M. J. Bos, Fleur Van Broekhuizen, Stefania Gottardo, Monique Groenewold, Danail Hristozov, Kerstin Hund-Rinke, Muhammad-Adeel Irfan, Antonio Marcomini, Willie J. G. M. Peijnenburg, Kirsten Rasmussen, Araceli Sánchez Jiménez, Janeck J. Scott-Fordsmand, Martie Van Tongeren, Karin Wiench, Wendel Wohlleben and Robert Landsiedel
Additional contact information
Agnes G. Oomen: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), PO Box 1, Bilthoven 3720, The Netherlands
Eric A. J. Bleeker: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), PO Box 1, Bilthoven 3720, The Netherlands
Peter M. J. Bos: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), PO Box 1, Bilthoven 3720, The Netherlands
Fleur Van Broekhuizen: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), PO Box 1, Bilthoven 3720, The Netherlands
Stefania Gottardo: Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra 21027, Italy
Monique Groenewold: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), PO Box 1, Bilthoven 3720, The Netherlands
Danail Hristozov: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Vegapark, Via delle Industrie 21/8, Marghera 30175, Venice, Italy
Kerstin Hund-Rinke: Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Auf dem Aberg 1, Schmallenberg 57392, Germany
Muhammad-Adeel Irfan: BASF SE, GB/TB-Z470, Ludwigshafen 67056, Germany
Antonio Marcomini: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Vegapark, Via delle Industrie 21/8, Marghera 30175, Venice, Italy
Willie J. G. M. Peijnenburg: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), PO Box 1, Bilthoven 3720, The Netherlands
Kirsten Rasmussen: Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra 21027, Italy
Araceli Sánchez Jiménez: Centre for Human Exposure Science (CHES), Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), Edinburgh EH14 4AP, UK
Janeck J. Scott-Fordsmand: Dept Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, PO Box 314, Silkeborg 8600, Denmark
Martie Van Tongeren: Centre for Human Exposure Science (CHES), Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), Edinburgh EH14 4AP, UK
Karin Wiench: BASF SE, GB/TB-Z470, Ludwigshafen 67056, Germany
Wendel Wohlleben: BASF SE, GB/TB-Z470, Ludwigshafen 67056, Germany
Robert Landsiedel: BASF SE, GB/TB-Z470, Ludwigshafen 67056, Germany

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Physicochemical properties of chemicals affect their exposure, toxicokinetics/fate and hazard, and for nanomaterials, the variation of these properties results in a wide variety of materials with potentially different risks. To limit the amount of testing for risk assessment, the information gathering process for nanomaterials needs to be efficient. At the same time, sufficient information to assess the safety of human health and the environment should be available for each nanomaterial. Grouping and read-across approaches can be utilised to meet these goals. This article presents different possible applications of grouping and read-across for nanomaterials within the broader perspective of the MARINA Risk Assessment Strategy (RAS), as developed in the EU FP7 project MARINA. Firstly, nanomaterials can be grouped based on limited variation in physicochemical properties to subsequently design an efficient testing strategy that covers the entire group. Secondly, knowledge about exposure, toxicokinetics/fate or hazard, for example via properties such as dissolution rate, aspect ratio, chemical (non-)activity, can be used to organise similar materials in generic groups to frame issues that need further attention, or potentially to read-across. Thirdly, when data related to specific endpoints is required, read-across can be considered, using data from a source material for the target nanomaterial. Read-across could be based on a scientifically sound justification that exposure, distribution to the target (fate/toxicokinetics) and hazard of the target material are similar to, or less than, the source material. These grouping and read-across approaches pave the way for better use of available information on nanomaterials and are flexible enough to allow future adaptations related to scientific developments.

Keywords: nanomaterials; grouping; read-across; MARINA risk assessment strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/10/13415/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/10/13415/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:10:p:13415-13434:d:57776

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().