Proposal for reference values for the developmental effects of valproate based on human data using a benchmark dose approach.

Following accidental release of valproate into ambient air during manufacture at a French production site in 2018, concerns were raised for inhabitants of the surrounding area. As no toxicological reference value (TRV) was available, the risks could not be properly assessed. The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) was mandated to determine a TRV by inhalation to be used for risk assessment. Major congenital malformations (MCMs) in offsprings of mothers exposed to valproate during pregnancy have been reported in international scientific literature. As these adverse effects were the most sensitive effect identified, they were retained as the critical effect to be used for the TRV. The data from a robust registry on MCMs established by the International Registry of Antiepileptic Drugs and Pregnancy (EURAP) were modellized and support a strong DRR between the prevalence of MCMs in the fetus and in utero exposure. A benchmark dose (BMD) was then calculated as the dose that may trigger a 5% increase in this risk. A lower 95% confidence limit (BMD5%L95%) of 2.26 mg/kg/day, leading to an oral TRV of 0.08 mg/kg/day and a respiratory TRV of 0.26 mg.m-3 after applying an uncertainty factor of 30, was determined.

Potential endocrine disrupting properties of toys for babies and infants.

Plastic toys mouthed by children may be a source of exposure to endocrine active substances. The purpose of this study was to measure hormonal activity of substances leaching from toys and to identify potential endocrine disruptors causing that activity. For this purpose, migration experiments of toys were conducted in saliva simulants. The CALUX® assays were used to detect (anti-) estrogenic and (anti-) androgenic activity of 18 toys. Chemical trace analysis-namely, GC-MS and HPLC-MS- was used to identify which compounds may be responsible for endocrine activity in the sample migrates. Nine out of 18 tested toys showed significant estrogenic activity. For two samples, the detected estrogenic activity could be well explained by detecting the known endocrine active substance bisphenol A (BPA). For all identified substances, including BPA, a risk assessment for human health was performed by comparing the exposure dose, calculated based on the determined substance concentration, to toxicological reference values. Using worst-case scenarios, the exposure to BPA by mouthing of the two estrogen active, BPA-containing toys could be above the temporary TDI that EFSA has calculated. This demonstrates that some toys could significantly contribute to the total exposure to BPA of babies and infants. For seven out of nine estrogen active samples, the source of the estrogen activity could not be explained by analysis for 41 known or suspected endocrine active substances in plastic, indicating that the estrogen activities were caused by currently unknown endocrine active substances, or by endocrine active substances that would currently not be suspected in toys.

[Biomononitoring of environmental exposure to inorganic arsenic]. / Surveillance biologique de l'exposition environnementale à l'arsenic inorganique.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The French national authority for health (Haute autorité de santé: HAS) and the French clinical toxicology society (Société de toxicologie clinique: STC) received a formal request from the French ministry for heath to elaborate recommendations for the screening of environmental overexposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs), for the medical management of overexposed patients and for the medical surveillance of exposed population. To allow these recommendations, preliminary literature retrieval and analysis were performed for identifying validated indicators of both exposure and early effects of iAs and their levels in the general population living in France. METHODS: Evaluations of inorganic arsenic toxicity conducted by national or international health agencies during the last 3 decades were all examined and analyzed. These evaluations were completed by literature retrieval through Medline and Scopus from January 2016 to December 2019. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The best biomonitoring indicator for iAs exposure is the sum of urine iAs, monmomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) concentrations (SAs). The upper limit of confidence interval of the 95th percentile of the distribution of this parameter in the general adult population living in France is 10 µg/g of creatinine, and is recommended as the limit value for the definition of overexposure. In less than 12 year-old children specific limit values are required, but not yet available. In their absence, SAs should exceed both 10 µg/g creatinine and 11 µg/L to be considered as indicating a probable overexposure to iAs. There are no useful biological indicators of iAs early effects. Non carcinogenic skin effects of inorganic arsenic (hyperpigmentation and keratosis) should be considered as the earliest deleterious effects of repeated environmental iAs exposure.