Committee on Mutagenicity of chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment Annual Report 2022

Head and shoulders image of Professor Gareth Jenkins in front of a light-coloured background wearing a dark coloured shirt.

I am delighted to present this report on the work of the Committee on Mutagenicity (COM) during 2022.

The Committee on Mutagenicity (COM) provides advice on potential mutagenic activity of specific chemicals at the request of UK Government Departments and Agencies. Such requests generally relate to chemicals for which there are incomplete, non-standard or controversial data sets for which independent authoritative advice on potential mutagenic hazards and risks is required. Recommendations for further studies are, on occasions, made.

The Committee also advises on important general principles and on new scientific work related to the assessment of mutagenic risk and makes recommendations on wider aspects of mutagenicity testing.  The membership of the Committee, declarations of their interests, agendas and minutes of meetings, and statements are all published on the internet at: Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

In 2022, COM continued work discussing the genotoxicity of titanium dioxide (MUT/2022/05) following the updated opinion published by EFSA in 2021. This review of titanium dioxide will be continued and concluded in 2023/2024.

In 2022 COM, at the request of COC who were writing a paper on carcinogenicity biomarkers, discussed ‘genotoxicity biomarkers’ sections (MUT/2022/03) and contributed to the final COC Biomarkers paper.

COM also discussed the description of the process of chemical risk assessment from a lay perspective (MUT/2022/03) and we have now begun the process of generating lay summaries of COM decision papers (MUT/2022/13). I think it is a key priority to ensure that our work is presented in a way understandable to the lay person in the UK.

COM have made specific recommendation in 2022 on the mutagenic hazards and risks posed by a number of substances including; Acrylamide, novel can coatings, Bisphenol-A and hydroxyanthracene derivatives (HADs) used in foods.

The COM maintained its awareness of the implications of EU EXIT on its work and remained alert to the continuing uncertainty as to how the UK's regulatory environment and its relationships with international organisations will develop in 2023 and onwards.

I would specifically like to thank the COM secretariat for their exceptional support to the COM and to the IEH team for the excellent work they delivered in 2022. As always, I am grateful for the support of the individual members of the committee for their expert advice, the effort and time they put in and their support throughout the year.

Professor Gareth Jenkins- Chair