Germany chemical trade group VCI, ministry widen biomonitoring

18 August 2011 17:43  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Germany’s environment ministry and chemical producers trade group VCI have widened their human biomonitoring cooperation to include five additional substances, they said on Thursday.

VCI and the ministry plan to jointly develop monitoring methods for 3-(4-methylbenzylidene)-campher, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidone, 2-mercaptobenzothiazol, and diphenylmethane-4,4‘-diisocyanate, they said.

These substances are used in applications such as UV suncare products, solvents for paints and plastics, and rubber products and tyres, as well as window and doorframe insulation materials, they said.

VCI’s biomonitoring cooperation with the ministry focuses on chemicals and substances that could have health impacts but that have, so far, not been susceptible to precise measurement in the human body.

The trade group and the ministry aim to develop monitoring and analysis methods for up to 50 substances over the coming years, they added.

The development of human biomonitoring is an expensive and laborious process. However, as it progresses it will help to better assess the real health risks of chemicals. Until now, industry and authorities often have to rely on assessments based on models that tend to overestimate or underestimate health risks, they said.

Germany’s chemical industry sees human biomonitoring as an important information and control tool. Biomonitoring supplies scientific data to find out if potential bans or restrictions actually reduce the population’s exposure to certain substances or chemicals, VCI added.

By: Stefan Baumgarten
+1 713 525 2653

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