A challenging step in human risk assessment of chemicals is the derivation of safe thresholds. The Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) concept is one option which can be used for the safety evaluation of substances with a limited toxicity dataset, but for which exposure is sufficiently low. The application of the TTC is generally accepted for orally or dermally exposed cosmetic ingredients; however, these values cannot directly be applied to the inhalation route because of differences in exposure route versus oral and dermal. Various approaches of an inhalation TTC concept have been developed over recent years to address this. A virtual workshop organized by Cosmetics Europe, held in November 2020, shared the current state of the science regarding the applicability of existing inhalation TTC approaches to cosmetic ingredients. Key discussion points included the need for an inhalation TTC for local respiratory tract effects in addition to a systemic inhalation TTC, dose metrics, database building and quality of studies, definition of the chemical space and applicability domain, and classification of chemicals with different potencies. The progress made to date in deriving inhalation TTCs was highlighted, as well as the next steps envisaged to develop them further for regulatory acceptance and use.
Keywords: Cosmetic ingredients; Inhalation; Risk assessment; Threshold of toxicological concern; Workshop.
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