FoBiGs attendance at the SETAC Europe 29th Annual Meeting

Melanie Macherey and Markus Schwarz attended this year's conference of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe in Helsinki (26-30 May). Again this year, endocrine disruption was an important issue, also on account of the new "ECHA/EFSA Guidance for the identification of endocrine disruptors in the context of Regulations (EU) No 528/2012 and (EC) No 1107/2009", published in June 2018. In order to meet the requirements of the Guidance, concepts were discussed and new scientific methods were presented, e.g. for modelling population-relevant adverse effects in non-target organisms or for identifying endocrine disruption of thyroid hormone signaling. There was also a lively discussion as to whether - in view of a hazard-based assessment in the EU - biological plausibility alone is sufficient, or whether the causality of the link is decisive if an adverse effect is to be assigned to a specific endocrine mechanism of action; and what role the mechanistic potency of a substance plays for this mechanism of action.