Risk assessmentindependent cross-checkabstract checked I-RES-105 standard review

EFSA: combined pesticide residues stay below nervous-system thresholds

Cumulative dietary risk characterisation of pesticides that have acute effects on the nervous system.

Overview

EFSA. EFSA J 2020 · PMID 32874295 · DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2020.6087

EFSA concluded that combined exposure to residues acting on the nervous system did not exceed the threshold in any of 10 European populations.

Does the study support the specific claim? No · Methodological quality: high

Study explained simply

What did the researchers want to find out?: Does combined exposure to pesticides acting on the nervous system exceed the threshold for regulatory consideration?
How was the study done?: Retrospective probabilistic cumulative risk assessment with expert knowledge elicitation
How many people, animals or samples were studied?: 10 populations
What was actually found?: For each of the 10 populations, it is concluded with varying degrees of certainty that cumulative exposure to pesticides with these acute nervous-system effects does not exceed the threshold for regulatory consideration.
How large was the observed effect?: For each of the 10 populations, it is concluded with varying degrees of certainty that cumulative exposure to pesticides with these acute nervous-system effects does not exceed the threshold for regulatory consideration.
What do the results mean in everyday life?: Even when residues are added together, EU exposure stays below safety limits for these effects.
What are the study's limitations?: Limited to selected effects; EU diets and residue levels only
What does it say about Elawady's specific claim?: Contradicts the claim for EU conditions.
Do the results apply to Germany and Europe?: Directly EU.
What can explicitly not be concluded from this study?: Not transferable to Egyptian residue levels; other effects assessed separately.

Does combined exposure to pesticides acting on the nervous system exceed the threshold for regulatory consideration?

Study design: Risk assessment – Retrospective probabilistic cumulative risk assessment with expert knowledge elicitation
Population: 10 European consumer populations
Country: EU
Period: monitoring data 2014-2016
Sample size: 10 populations
Inclusion and exclusion criteria: as described in the abstract

Results: For each of the 10 populations, it is concluded with varying degrees of certainty that cumulative exposure to pesticides with these acute nervous-system effects does not exceed the threshold for regulatory consideration.
Absolute risks: not reported
Authors' conclusion: Cumulative exposure does not exceed the threshold.

Not applicable.

Tests the combined-residue ('cocktail') concern for EU consumers.

EFSA concluded that combined exposure to residues acting on the nervous system did not exceed the threshold in any of 10 European populations.

Multidimensional assessment
Multidimensional assessment
Authenticity of the source	verified
Methodological quality	high
Risk of bias	low
Precision of results	moderate
Directness	direct
Reproducibility	replicated
Consistency with the overall evidence	consistent
Regional transferability	high
Adequacy of the interpretation (by the archive)	not applicable