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Enough professionals to assess the toxicity of chemicals

Food, fish and agriculture Food safety Health and diseases

A Nordic initiative aims to ensure a sufficient number of professionals in the Nordic countries, who can help protect the health of humans and our environment from harmful chemicals in the future.

Society expects that manufacturers of various consumer products use chemicals, which are not harmful to either humans or our environment.

In order to assess whether chemicals are safe to use, we need scientists who can study chemicals’ potentially harmful effects and we need experts who can assess the safety of chemicals—including pharmaceuticals—that manufacturers want to put on the market.

In a new Nordic initiative, a group of experts from the Nordic countries within the field of toxicology has set out to assess in which areas there will be a particular need for professionals with toxicological skills over the next two decades. They will also look at how well these needs will be met by the number of people already undergoing training.

The group will also map out education programmes currently on offer in the Nordic countries with a view to developing new educational opportunities that can address any identified gaps.

The National Food Institute’s Head of Division Anette Schnipper is one of the 14 experts who are behind the initiative.

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Read a memo about the thoughts behind and the aim of the initiative written by the 14 initiators.

People are exposed to numerous chemical substances from many different sources on a daily basis. The National Food Institute do research on potentially harmful chemical substances and assesses the consequences in regards to food safety with particular focus on endocrine disruptors, cocktail effects and the development of computer models that can predict the harmful effects.

The institute also runs several courses within the areas of toxicology and risk assessment.

Read more about the National Food Institute’s research on the institute’s special topic portal on chemical exposure.