EC/US workshop report: assessment of genetic risks associated with exposure to ethylene oxide, acrylamide, 1,3-butadiene and cyclophosphamide

The EC/US Workshop on Risk Assessment: ‘Human Genetic Risks from Exposure to Chemicals, Focusing on the Feasibility of a Parallelogram Approach’ had as its main objective the identification of the methodology, data requirements and mechanistic research to understand the human health impact of germ cell mutagens. Specifically, it represented an evaluation of current knowledge and the identification of future research needs for a more precise assessment of human genetic risks from exposure to mutagenic chemicals. Four chemicals were selected for review at the Workshop and in this Special Issue: ethylene oxide, 1,3-butadiene, acrylamide, and cyclophosphamide. The first three are important industrial chemicals with substantial use worldwide and, therefore, considerable potential for human exposure. The fourth, cyclophosphamide, is a commonly used cancer chemotherapeutic agent. This Special Issue contains the major scientific reports from the workshop. These include four Introductory Papers (on the parallelogram concept, alternative genetic risk assessment approaches, regulatory data needs, and the research background for risk assessment of ethylene oxide), four Working Group Reports on the specific compounds mentioned above and, finally, three Crosscutting Papers pertinent to the issue of germ-line mutagenesis and genetic risk estimation.