efsa-opinion-chromium-food-drinking-water

Chromium in food and drinking water
320.2 ng/kg b.w. per day (minimum LB - maximum UB) for 95 th percentile consumption, with the
highest exposure estimated for infants. The MOEs for the different age groups across the different
European dietary surveys calculated on the basis of the selected RP vary for the different ages groups
as shown in Table 24 for mean and 95 th percentile exposure when calculated for both LB and UB
exposure estimates.
The MOEs indicate low concern regarding Cr(VI) intake via the consumption of water intended for
human consumption and mineral waters for all age groups when considering the mean chronic
exposure values with the exception of infants at UB exposure estimates. However, the exposure
assessment for infants should be cautiously taken because only two surveys were available for this age
group. The MOEs calculated taking into account the 95 th percentile exposures to Cr(VI) indicate a
potential concern, but only at UB exposure estimates and particularly for ‘Infants’, ‘Toddlers’ and
‘Other children’ age groups. When interpreting these MOEs, it should be considered that there is a
remarkable influence of left-censored data (91.3 % of the total data) on the UB estimates since UB
occurrence values were 10-fold higher than LB for the most consumed water, i.e. tap water. Moreover,
these MOEs were calculated by using as RP the BMDL 10 derived from dose-response analysis of
incidence of tumours (combined incidence of adenomas and carcinomas) in the small intestine of
mice. There is evidence of differences in anatomy and functional properties of the stomach in rodents
and in humans that are expected to impact significantly on the efficiency of Cr(VI) reduction in the GI
tract. Efficient Cr(VI) reduction in the GI tract would reduce chances of cellular uptake and
subsequent induction of genotoxicity/carcinogenicity. In particular, the reduction capacity of rodents
is expected to be significantly lower than that of humans, which makes rodents a worst case model for
human carcinogenicity. When interpreting the numerical value of the MOE it should be considered
that there is a significant uncertainty associated with the use of tumour data in mice to estimate risk at
doses of Cr(VI) relevant for human exposure.
Based on the MOE values for neoplastic effects, the CONTAM Panel concluded that the current levels
of exposure to Cr(VI) via the consumption of water intended for human consumption and mineral
waters are of low concern from a public health point of view for average consumers but there might be
a potential concern for high consumers particularly for ‘Infants’, ‘Toddlers’ and ‘Other children’.
Table 24: Margin of exposure (MOE) calculated across the different European dietary surveys for
Cr(VI) through the consumption of drinking water (water intended for human consumption and
mineral waters) as such. MOEs are rounded to two significant digits.
MOE (min LBmax
UB)
Mean exposure (a)
Dietary surveys
with MOE below
10 000/Total
surveys (b)
95 th percentile exposure (a)
MOE (min LB-max
UB)
Dietary surveys with
MOE below
10 000/Total
surveys (b)
Infants (c) 71 000 - 6300 2/2 21 000 - 3100 1/1
Toddlers 130 000 - 11 000 0/9 62 000 - 4200 6/6
Other children 1 400 000 - 16 000 0/15 360 000 - 6600 9/15
Adolescents 1 200 000 - 23 000 0/10 350 000 - 9100 1/10
Adults 710 000 - 23 000 0/13 230 000 - 9200 1/13
Elderly 540 000 - 29 000 0/6 210 000 - 11 000 0/6
Very elderly 740 000 - 29 000 0/4 95 000 - 11 000 0/3
(a): Dietary surveys with less than 50 % consumers were not considered (surveys from Greece (age class ‘Other children’),
Cyprus (age class ‘Adolescents’), Latvia (age classes ‘Other children’, ‘Adolescents’ and ‘Adults’) and Hungary (age
classes ‘Adults’, ‘Elderly’ and ‘Very elderly’, see Table G2 in appendix);
(b): Number of surveys with a MOE lower than 10000 at the UB;
(c): Estimate only available from two dietary surveys for the mean and only one for the 95 th percentiles;
The highest chronic exposure to Cr(VI) through the consumption of bottled water was estimated in the
youngest population (‘Infants’ and ‘Toddlers’) (Table 10). Due to the lack of consumption data on
bottled water, in several dietary surveys no exposure to Cr(VI) through the consumption of bottled
EFSA Journal 2014;12(3):3595 116