Benchmark dose method: health-based recommended exposure limits in new perspective

Exposure to a chemical via air, water or food can result in the impairment of health, depending on the degree of exposure and the toxicity of the substance. Health-based recommended exposure limits for a substance correspond with the highest estimated dose or concentration that does not lead to health impairment. To support the implementation of policy on industrial safety, environmental management and food safety, the Health Council derives such limits for specific substances. The Council also studies the methods employed to derive recommended exposure limits, and from time to time it advises modifying these methods to bring them into line with the latest developments in scientific knowledge.

Committee

• Dr WRF Notten, toxicologist, TNO Prevention and Health, Leiden, chairman
• Dr WFJPM ten Berge, toxicologist, DSM, Heerlen
• Dr BJ Blaauboer, toxicologist, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University
• Dr VJ Feron, professor emeritus of biological toxicology, Utrecht University
• Dr Ir PHM Lohman, professor emeritus of Radiation Genetics and Chemical Mutagenesis, University of Leiden
• Dr ir G de Mik, toxicologist, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven
• Ms Dr ir MN Pieters, toxicologist, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven
• Dr GMH Swaen, epidemiologist, Universiteit Maastricht
• Dr RA Woutersen, toxicologist and toxicological pathologist, TNO Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Zeist
• Dr JA van Zorge, environmental health expert, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning, and the Environment, The Hague, advisor
• Ms Dr Ir PW van Vliet, toxicologist, Health Council of the Netherlands, The Hague, scientific secretary
• Dr WF Passchier, physical-chemist, Health Council of the Netherlands, The Hague and special professor of risk analysis, Universiteit Maastricht, scientific secretary for the present report