2017/10/05 by Melanie Gross, Richard M. Green, Lennart Weltje +1 · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Agricultural safety and regulations #Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals #Pesticide Residue Analysis and Safety
paper · doi:10.1016/j.yrtph.2017.10.004
openalex publication_date 2017/10/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
A Weight-of-evidence (WoE) evaluation should be applied in assessing all the available data for the identification of endocrine disrupting (ED) properties of chemicals. The European Commission draft acts specifying criteria under the biocidal products and plant protection products regulations require that WoE is implemented for the assessment of such products. However, only some general considerations and principles of how a WoE should be conducted are provided. This paper reviews WoE approaches to distil key recommendations specifically for the evaluation of potential ED properties of chemicals. In a manner, which is consistent with existing, published WoE frameworks, the WoE evaluation of ED properties can be divided into four phases: 1) Definition of causal questions and data gathering and selection, 2) Review of individual studies, 3) Data integration and evaluation, and 4) Drawing conclusions based on inferences. Recommendations are made on how to conduct each phase robustly and transparently to help guide the WoE evaluation of potential endocrine disrupting properties of chemicals within a European regulatory context.