General

W

Glossary of terms used in COT reports beginning with W

Last updated: 27 November 2020

Weight of evidence: This approach uses a combination of several independent sources of evidence (e.g. toxicological or genotoxicity data) to arrive at a conclusion regarding potential hazard (such as mutagenicity).

WHO-TEQs: The system of Toxic Equivalency Factors (TEFs) used in the UK and a number of other countries to express the concentrations of the less toxic dioxin-like compounds (16 PCDDs/PCDFs and 12 PCBs) as a concentration equivalent to the most toxic dioxin 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is that set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the resulting overall concentrations are referred to as WHO-TEQs (Total toxic equivalents).