The Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area of the DFG has now published the English version of its latest research-based recommendations on the risk assessment of substances used at the workplace. The recommendations have been submitted to the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in July. Compiled in 2024 for the 60th time, the annually prepared list of recommended limit values serves as an essential basis for amendments to the Hazardous Substances Ordinance (GefStoffV) in Germany and is also used in other countries. The digital version of the recommendations is also available in English and Spanish in open access so that it may serve as a basis for occupational health and safety internationally.
The recommendations put forward by the Senate Commission on the handling of hazardous substances are first assessed by the Federal Ministry of Labour's Committee on Hazardous Substances, and statutory regulations are subsequently drawn up on this basis as necessary. Regarding the list of the last year, the Committee adopted all but one of the proposed limit values.
This reflects the outstanding scientific quality and longstanding experience of the Commission with regard to health protection in the occupational context. The Senate Commission makes a significant contribution here in terms of the DFG's mandate to provide scientific policy advice as stipulated in its statutes."
Dr. Andrea Hartwig, Commission Chair Professor
New health risk assessment for aluminum
In terms of the current limit value recommendations, the Commission changed the risk assessment of 22 substances based on new scientific findings. It also added four new substances to its list of recommendations. One particularly noteworthy instance here is the intense debate surrounding the assessment of the metal aluminium and its inorganic compounds. Aluminium compounds are not only found at the workplace in the form of dust, for example during welding, they are frequently used in other contexts as well, such as in the treatment of water.
The Commission derived a total of four limit values for different groups of aluminium compounds. These figures indicate the maximum workplace concentrations (MAK values), i.e. the quantities of a substance that are not expected to cause any long-term harm at the workplace as a gas, vapour or aerosol in the air. Following a critical evaluation of the literature – in particular considering studies that postulate a causal link between aluminium and breast cancer – the Senate Commission stated that aluminium was not classified as carcinogenic providing the MAK value was adhered to.
The Commission's current recommendations specifically contain eight new MAK values. In addition, the recommendations indicate the concentration of a substance in the body to which a person can be exposed during a working lifetime without experiencing adverse health effects: this year, the list contains three changes to such biological tolerance values. The recommendations also include information on whether a substance can cause cancer, damage germ cells, harm a developing foetus during pregnancy, sensitise the skin or respiratory tract, or are absorbed in toxic quantities through the skin.
Detailed scientific documentations are available for each of the substances reviewed. In order to ensure that the recommendations are up to date with the latest scientific findings, the proposed amendments and new additions remain open for discussion until 31 December 2024. New data or scientific comments can be submitted to the Commission up until that date.
All substance documentations and methodological descriptions prepared by the Senate Commission along with the annually published recommendations (List of MAK and BAT Values) are to be found in the MAK Collection. In addition to the latest results of the Commission's scientific work, all other publications are likewise available in open access, ensuring that the findings are presented in a form that enables comprehensive scientific reuse.
Active engagement in the area of European chemicals policy
In addition to providing scientific policy advice on national occupational health and safety legislation, the Commission is also involved in advising on European chemicals policy. Together with the DFG's Permanent Senate Commission on Animal Research, the Senate Commission contributed a research perspective to the current debate on an EU roadmap for abandoning animal-based methods in chemicals testing, which is due to be published in 2025.
On the one hand, the two Commissions highlighted the potential offered by various New Approach Methods (NAMs). According to the researchers, these have the capacity to reduce the number of animal experiments and to use existing findings more systematically to be able to arrive at a quantitative risk assessment as a requirement for deriving limit values. The new methods include conducting studies on cell cultures or organoids – small pieces of tissue produced in the laboratory that are very similar to many organs, including the liver, the kidney and the brain – and also methods using data integration and simulation.
On the other hand, the Senate Commissions pointed out that extensive research will be still needed to assess the possibilities and limitations of the new methodologies before potentially displacing animal experiments entirely without accepting higher risks at the workplace and beyond.
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