The European Community classification of chemicals for reproductive toxicity

The classification and labelling of dangerous substances was first introduced in 1967 in the European Community with Council Directive 67/548/EEC known as the Dangerous Substances Directive. The "6th Amendment" to this directive in 1979 introduced a notification procedure and a requirement for labelling chemicals for toxicity. Three special categories for labelling were for "Carcinogenicity, Mutagenicity and Teratogenicity". The teratogenicity classification was restricted to chemicals inducing "teratogenic" effects in the classical sense of the word ie. producing only gross structural malformations. Discussions by expert advisors to the European Commission over several years has lead to a widening of concern in this area of toxicology and under the forthcoming "7th Amendment" the classification of "Teratology" will be changed to "Toxic to Reproduction". This will include adverse effects on fertility, pre- and postnatal development and lactation and will encompass not only structural but also functional deficits. This will bring about a major change in the testing requirements to allow adequate classification of chemicals for these other aspects of reproductive toxicity.