Committee on Mutagenicity of chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment Annual Report 2023

Preface

Photo of Professor Gareth Jenkins- Chair. The photo is a head and shoulders image. Gareth is wearing a red shirt, dark framed glasses and has facial hair. In the background the image shows a ceiling covered in white square tiles, to the left a book shelf and to the right, framed pictures on the wall.

I am delighted to present this report on the work of the Committee on Mutagenicity (COM) during 2023.

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 (Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment - GOV.UK).

The membership of COM has undergone some changes in 2023 with members rotating off the committee and new vacancies being advertised.

In 2023, COM continued to develop its opinion paper on the genotoxicity of titanium dioxide (MUT/2022/05) following the updated opinion published by EFSA in 2021. This will be published in 2024.

In 2023, COM finalised the production of “lay summaries” to enhance public engagement. To begin with, this involved 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).

In 2023, COM also commented on the genotoxicity of a novel can coating material (MUT/2023/02) and continued to draft an opinion on the use of in silico approaches for genotoxicity.

Professor Gareth Jenkins- Chair