Combined Actions and Interactions of Chemicals in Mixtures

8.3 Conference proceedings
Proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Health Effect Research Laboratory
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, November 7-10, 1994 entitled
Chemical mixtures and quantitative risk assessment has been published as a special
issue of Toxicology (vol. 105 (2-3), 1995). It contains 8 session summaries and a
total of 29 scientific papers presenting updated knowledge on combination
toxicology.
Proceedings of The European Conference on Combination Toxicology, held in
Veldhoven, The Netherlands, October 11-13, 1995 was published in Food and
Chemical Toxicology (34 (11/12), 1996). Nineteen fairly brief articles present the
European state of the art in combination toxicology.
8.4 Reports
Combination Effects. A survey of biological responses to mixtures of industrial
chemicals and pesticides was prepared by Steen Clemmensen in 1986 for the
Nordic Council of Ministers. This report was the first Danish effort to highlight the
importance of evaluating the possible combined effects of chemical mixtures. The
report deals with the fundamental concepts, biological mechanisms of interaction,
combined actions after acute or prolonged exposure to chemical mixtures,
including reproductive, mutagenic and carcinogenic efects, as well as how to
extrapolate from high dose exposure to low dose exposure.
The report: Sundhedsmæssig vurdering af luftforurening fra vejtrafik (“Health
Evaluation of Air-Pollution from Road Traffic”) by Larsen PB, Larsen JC, Fenger J
and Jensen SS (1997) published in Danish by the Danish Environment Protection
Agency contains an extensive Summary and Conclusions in English. The report
contains evaluations of health effects from combined exposures to traffic related air
pollutants especially in the areas of airway irritation, allergy and hypersensitivity,
and cancer.
Combined actions of pesticides in food was prepared by Trine Klein Reffstrup in
2002, Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition at the Danish Veterinary and Food
Administration (FødevareRapport 2002:19). The report summarises and evaluates
the current knowledge on combined toxic effects of mixtures of pesticides. The
most important models for risk assessment of pesticide residues in food are
discussed and recommendations for future approaches in risk assessments in
Denmark are presented.
Guidance manual for the assessment of joint toxic action of chemical mixtures was
prepared by the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) under
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ATSDR 2002). This report
summarises terminology and basic concepts of toxicological interactions among
chemicals and gives an overview of the approaches used for risk assessments by
various North American agencies. It also provides its own strategies for exposurebased
assessments for noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic effects, respectively.
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