Using Human Biomonitoring Data to Support Risk Assessment of Cosmetic Ingredients—A Case Study of Benzophenone-3

Christophe Rousselle (1) , Matthieu Meslin (2) , Tamar Berman (3) , Marjolijn Woutersen (4) , Wieneke Bil (4) , Jenna Wildeman (4) , Qasim Chaudhry (5)

1 DAEI - Direction des affaires européennes et internationales
2 DER - Direction de l'Evaluation des Risques
3 Ministry of Health [Jérusalem]
4 RIVM - National Institute for Public Health and the Environment [Bilthoven]
5 University of Chester

Safety assessment of UV filters for human health by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) is based on the estimation of internal dose following external (skin) application of cosmetic products, and comparison with a toxicological reference value after conversion to internal dose. Data from human biomonitoring (HBM) could be very useful in this regard, because it is based on the measurement of real-life internal exposure of the human population to a chemical. UV filters were included in the priority list of compounds to be addressed under the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU), and risk assessment of benzophenone-3 (BP-3) was carried out based on HBM data. Using BP-3 as an example, this study investigated the benefits and limitations of the use of external versus internal exposure data to explore the usefulness of HBM to support the risk assessment of cosmetic ingredients. The results show that both approaches did indicate a risk to human health under certain levels of exposure. They also highlight the need for more robust exposure data on BP-3 and other cosmetic ingredients, and a standardized framework for incorporating HBM data in the risk assessment of cosmetic products.

Mots clés: human biomonitoring; UV filters; benzophenone-3; HBM4EU; risk assessment; RCR; margin of safety

Domaines: Toxicologie

Christophe Rousselle, Matthieu Meslin, Tamar Berman, Marjolijn Woutersen, Wieneke Bil, et al.. Using Human Biomonitoring Data to Support Risk Assessment of Cosmetic Ingredients—A Case Study of Benzophenone-3. Toxics, 2022, 10 (2), pp.96. ⟨10.3390/toxics10020096⟩. ⟨anses-03651362⟩