Partnership for the Assessment of Risk from Chemicals (PARC)

05/2022-04/2029

Funding programme / funding institution: Europäische Union (EU) - Belgien

Grant number: 101057014

Project homepage: http://www.eu-parc.eu

Project description:

The European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) is a partnership funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe with over 200 partners from 28 countries and European authorities. Over the next seven years, it aims to develop new ways of assessing the risks of chemicals in order to protect both human health and the environment.

In order to improve consumer and environmental protection in Europe, PARC created an explicit regulatory focus to adequately address remaining gata gaps, uncertainties and open questions regarding human and environmental toxicology as well as exposure. With new data, knowledge, methods, networks and competences, current and upcoming challenges in the field of chemical safety are to be highlighted and addressed. Thus, PARC is a flagship of European toxicological consumer and environmental protection and the first large-scale EU programme with a direct regulatory relevance and special significance for future risk assessment in Europe. The seven-year partnership is coordinated by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES).

The PARC programme has three main objectives:

• Further development of an EU-wide, multidisciplinary network – to promote research and innovation in chemical assessment and to feed its results into the regulation of chemicals.
• Initiate joint EU research projects on urgent issues – to support risk assessment and respond to new challenges.
• Strengthening existing research capacities – to establish EU-wide, cross-disciplinary platforms giving new impetus to chemical risk assessment.

PARC comprises the following nine work packages (WP):

• WP1: Coordination and management
• WP2: A common science-policy agenda
• WP3: Synergies, cooperation and awareness
• WP4: Monitoring and exposure
• WP5: Hazard assessment
• WP6: Innovation in regulatory risk assessment
• WP7: FAIR data
• WP8: Concepts and toolboxes
• WP9: Building infrastructural and human capacities.

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the German Environment Agency (UBA) are the leading German participants, and a total of 18 German institutions ("Affiliated Entities") are also involved in PARC.

The work package "Hazard Assessment", for which BfR is responsible, has the following objectives:

• Improvement of consumer health protection by closing data gaps for the risk assessment of potentially hazardous substances.
• Development and improvement of innovative and predictive methods promoting the identification of chemical hazards, risk assessment and regulation of these substances.
• Improvement of risk assessment approaches to protect health and the environment.
• Further development of methods that can be used as alternatives to animal testing.
• Establishment of a European network of toxicologists as a contribution to a uniform approach to the risk assessment of chemicals in Europe.

In addition, the BfR is involved in the work package "A common science-policy agenda". It will create the decisive basis for the results achieved in PARC to be incorporated into the work of the regulatory authorities in Europe.

BfR scientists contribute to the development and provision of (new, partly non-animal testing based) methods that serve the needs analysis, the risk assessment of chemicals as well as the implementation of measures in regulatory risk management. Furthermore, the cooperation of different actors in PARC is intended to promote exchange and thus to create a sustainable network for identifying and prioritising scientific and technical advances and needs in the field of chemical risk assessment.

Project partners

• Fraunhofer-Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Ökologie (Fraunhofer IME) - Deutschland
• Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) - Deutschland
• Universität zu Köln, vertreten durch Universitätsklinikum Köln AöR (Uni Köln) - Deutschland
• Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) Halle (Saale) - Deutschland
• Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (TU Kaiserslautern) - Deutschland
• Leibniz-Institut für umweltmedizinische Forschung gGmbH (IUF) - Deutschland
• Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH (UFZ) Leipzig - Deutschland
• Leibniz-Institut für Arbeitsforschung an der TU Dortmund (IfADo) - Deutschland
• Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) - Deutschland
• Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover (TiHo) - Deutschland
• Fraunhofer-Institut für Toxikologie und Experimentelle Medizin (Fraunhofer ITEM) Hannover - Deutschland
• Universität Konstanz (Uni Konstanz) - Deutschland
• Fraunhofer-Institut für Biomedizinische Technik (Fraunhofer IBMT) Sulzbach - Deutschland
• French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) - Frankreich
• Umweltbundesamt (UBA) - Deutschland
• Umweltbundesamt GmbH (EAA) - Österreich
• Flämisches Institut für technologische Forschung (VITO) - Belgien
• The State General Laboratory (Ministry of Health) of Cyprus (MoH SGL) - Zypern
• Croatian National Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) - Kroatien
• National Centre for Toxic Compounds represented by the Masaryk University (RCETOX MUNI) - Tschechien
• Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic (UZIS) - Tschechien
• The Danish Environmental Protection Agency, DK (EPA DK) - Dänemark
• Estonian Health Borad (Terviseamet) Tallinn - Estland
• European Environment Agency (EEA) (EEA)
• Europäische Chemikalien Agentur (ECHA) - Finnland
• Europäische Behörde für Lebensmittelsicherheit (EFSA) - Italien
• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Finnland
• Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) - Finnland
• French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) - Frankreich
• Public Health France (SpF) - Frankreich
• Aristoteles-Universität Thessaloniki (Uni Thessaloniki) - Griechenland
• Benaki Phytopathological Institute (BPI) - Griechenland
• National Public Health Center (NPHC) (NPHC) - Ungarn
• Ministry of Health - Israel (MOH) - Israel
• Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) - Italien
• Universität von Island (UI) - Island
• Latvian Council of Science (LCS) - Lettland
• Lithuanian National Public Health Surveillance Laboratory (NPHSL) - Litauen
• Litauische Universität für Gesundheitswissenschaften (LSMU) - Litauen
• Laboratoire national de santé (LNS) Dudelange - Luxemburg
• National Institute For Public Health and The Environment (RIVM) - Niederlande
• Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) Oslo - Norwegen
• Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (NIOM) - Polen
• National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA) - Portugal
• Medizinische Fakultät (FMUL) (Universität Lissabon)
• National Institute of Public Health, Slowenia (NIJZ) - Slowenien
• Institut "Jožef Stefan" (JSI) - Slowenien
• Carlos III Institut für Gesundheit (ISCIII) - Spanien
• Institute of Environmental Assessment and water Research-CSIC (IDAEA-CSIC) Barcelona - Spanien
• Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) - Schweden
• Bundesamt für Gesundheit, CH (FOPH) - Schweiz
• Slowakische Medizinische Universität Bratislava (SMU) - Slowenien
• Public Health England (PHE) - Vereinigtes Königreich