About the Committees
In this guide
In this guide
*Annex 6 coming soon*
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This is the 31st joint annual report of the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT), the Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COM) and the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COC).
The aim of these reports is to provide a brief background to the Committees' decisions. Those seeking further information on a particular subject can obtain details from the Committee’s statements and minutes, available from the websites listed below or from the Committee’s administrative Secretary.
In common with other independent advisory committees, Committee members are required to follow a Code of Conduct which also gives guidance on how commercial interests should be declared. Members are required to declare any commercial interests on appointment and, again during meetings if a topic arises in which they have an interest. If a member declares a specific interest in a topic under discussion, and it is considered to be a conflict of interest, he or she may, at the Chairman's discretion be allowed to take part in the discussion but is excluded from decision-making. Annex 1 contains the terms of reference under which the Committees were set up. The Code of Conduct is at Annex 2 and Annex 3 describes the Committees’ policy on openness.
Annex 4 is the Good Practice Agreement for Scientific Advisory Committees. Annex 5 contains a glossary of technical terms used in the text. Annex 6 is an alphabetical index to subjects and substances considered in previous reports. Previous publications of the Committees are listed at Annex 7.
These three Committees also provide expert advice to other advisory committees, such as the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, and there are links with the FSA Science Council, Veterinary Products Committee and the Expert Committee on Pesticides (formerly the Advisory Committee on Pesticides).
The Committees’ procedures for openness include the publication of agendas, finalised minutes, agreed conclusions and statements. These are published on the internet at the following links:
This report contains summaries of the discussions and links to the Committees’ published statements. Paper copies are available upon request to the Secretariats.