Spotlight February 2022: Probabilistic risk assessment – the keystone for the future of toxicology

Home > Spotlight February 2022: Probabilistic risk assessment – the keystone for the future of toxicology

The basics of toxicology are constantly being reconsidered, and the approach to risk assessment is therefore constantly being put to the test, because, as William Osler is cited in this publication, “Medicine (toxicology) is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability“.

In this recent paper, the team around Thomas Hartung (Johns-Hopkins University/University of Konstanz) has shown that for improved toxicology we should rather work with a “Probabilistic Risk Assessment” approach. This is also or especially important for new materials, because with these there are particularly often gaps in knowledge, uncertainties in risk assessment due to conflicting data and the most diverse hypotheses and strategies of the various stakeholders. In the publication, various models are presented that are applicable for this type of risk assessment and for some of which corresponding software is also available to perform calculations for the respective exposure scenarios. In the examples for this approach, a paper by Jacobs et al. (1) is also cited here, who had applied the case to silica in food. They concluded that after taking all uncertainties into account and using all available data, the margin of safety has not yet been exceeded by far using silica in various food products. In 2017, an international group of experts applied this method to Titanium dioxide in seven different exposure scenarios and concluded no increased risk to humans, as the probability of exceeding the safety limits is vanishingly small (2).

The suggested approach by Johns Hopkins University is thus a good indication to adopt this method in order to be able to make a reasonable risk assessment for new, innovative materials even in the presence of uncertaintie.

 

Further literature:

  1. Jacobs, R., van der Voet, H., and Ter Braak, C.J. (2015). Integrated probabilistic risk assessment for nanoparticles: the case of nanosilica in food. J Nanopart Res 17, 251
  2. Tsang, M.P., Hristozov, D., Zabeo, A., Koivisto, A.J., Jensen, A.C.O., Jensen, K.A., Pang, C., Marcomini, A., and Sonnemann, G. (2017). Probabilistic risk assessment of emerging materials: case study of titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Nanotoxicology 11, 558-568

 

Original publication:

Maertens, A., Golden, E., Luechtefeld, T.H., Hoffmann, S., Tsaioun, K., and Hartung, T. (2022). Probabilistic risk assessment – the keystone for the future of toxicology. ALTEX 39, 3-29

Spotlight February 2022: Probabilistic risk assessment – the keystone for the future of toxicology

Weitere Spotlights


Spotlight September 2021: Wood, the raw material of the future?

Spotlight September 2021: Wood, the raw material of the future?

One of the greatest challenges facing humanity is to produce clean drinking water under the given circumstances of global warming, population growth and increasing littering. In September, we would like to present a review article that believes one approach to solve this problem is the use of nanoscale wood. In the review, “Advanced Nanowood Materials […]

Read more

Spotlight January 2022: Methods, models, mechanisms and metadata

Spotlight January 2022: Methods, models, mechanisms and metadata

For the new year, we are presenting no “classic” paper here, but would like to point out an editorial: Methods, Models, Mechanisms and Metadata: Introduction to the Nanotoxicology Collection at F1000 Research. This editorial introduces the F1000Research Nanotoxicology Collection, where best practices can be collected in the form of original research reports, including no-effect studies, […]

Read more

Spotlight November 2021: Safe Materials from Scratch – Safe-by-Design in Materials Research

Spotlight November 2021: Safe Materials from Scratch – Safe-by-Design in Materials Research

Advances in the field of materials science continue to amaze us with nanoscale materials with extraordinary chemical, electrical, optical, and numerous other properties. However, some nanoscale materials have different toxicological profiles compared to the same bulk material. Since safety issues are usually addressed just before launching a product into the market, safety issues may be […]

Read more

Spotlight October 2020: Nanosafety – Topic of the Future

Spotlight October 2020: Nanosafety – Topic of the Future

Research on nanosafety is a driver of innovation as the spotlight in July has demonstrated. But furthermore, this research field is built on routine as well if researchers look for the “needle in the haystack”. In many areas the safety research initiates the development of new methods, e.g. for the determination of nanoparticles within exposed organisms via […]

Read more

Skip to content