Cumulative dietary exposure assessment of pesticides that have chronic effects on the thyroid using SAS^® software

Retrospective dietary exposure assessments were conducted for two groups of pesticides that have chronic effects on the thyroid: hypertrophy, hyperplasia and neoplasia of C-cells, and hypothyroidism. The pesticides considered in this assessment were identified and characterised in the scientific report on the establishment of cumulative assessment groups of pesticides for their effects on the thyroid. The exposure assessments used monitoring data collected by Member States under their official pesticide monitoring programmes in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and individual food consumption data from 10 populations of consumers from different countries and from different age groups. Exposure estimates were obtained for each group of pesticides by means of a 2-dimensional probabilistic model, which was implemented in SAS ^® software. Results were validated against exposure estimates obtained by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) using the Monte Carlo Risk Assessment (MCRA) software. Both tools produced nearly identical results and minor differences were mainly attributed to the random effect of probabilistic modelling. The exposure estimates obtained in this report are used in the final scientific report on the cumulative dietary risk characterisation of pesticides that have chronic effects on the thyroid. The latter combines the hazard assessment and exposure assessment into a consolidated risk characterisation including all uncertainties.