Support to the biocides industry for justification of the appropriate cancer classification of soil metabolites

Client

A UK consultancy supporting the biocides industry.

Background

The client is currently assessing the safety of a herbicide formulation containing an active ingredient which has recently been classified as a suspected human carcinogen. Bibra scientists were asked to provide an opinion as to whether the EU cancer classification of the active ingredient should also apply to each of several soil metabolites.

Project Goals

To provide justification of the appropriate classification of the soil metabolites based on current available data, a visual inspection and comparison of the structures of the active and metabolites, and an assessment of relevant structural alerts.

Approach

Well-known data sources were searched to identify any relevant carcinogenicity data on the soil metabolites and on the active ingredient itself. Data sources included our in-house database, TRACE, and the online databases PubMed, eChemPortal and the TOXNET system (including TOXLINE, CCRIS, GENETOX and HSDB). In addition, Toxtree and OECD QSAR Toolbox were used to predict the carcinogenic potential of the metabolites and to identify any relevant structural alerts.

Project Outcome

Bibra was able to provide an opinion and justification regarding the appropriate cancer classification of these metabolites based primarily on comparable target organ toxicity with the parent compound. This opinion enabled our client to ensure the protection of human health and to further understand their regulatory obligations.

Project Leaders

Richard Young

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