50 Years German National Committee for the Assessment of Poisonings

Background: The German National Committee for the Assessment of Poisonings located at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is now looking back on 50 years of successful prevention work. It was established in 1964, within the former German Health Authority (BGA), modelled on the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) committee “National Clearinghouse for Poison Control Centers”, together with the contemporary BfR Centre for Documentation and Assessment of Poisonings. Likewise, poison information centers (PCs) were established in the German federal Länder according to the American model. Renowned experts were appointed to the Committee who supported the German PCs’ services in consultancy and treatment in cases of accidents. Results: Owing to the individual and appropriate treatment of cases of poisoning in cooperation with the poison information and treatment centers, decisive improvements have been achieved regarding treatment prevention and consumer protection (e.g., new product compositions, warning labels and bans on sales) leading to a drastic reduction in fatal poisoning accidents in children. The Committee, in which more than 190 experts have collaborated up to now, provides input for legislative procedures. For instance, with the backing of the Committee, BfR proposed the EU-wide restriction of the sale of paraffin-containing, colored and perfumed lamp oils, which led to a marked drop in the number of poisoning accidents involving such oils. Also, the EU standard on child-resistant closures, the restrictions on methanol in consumer preparations as well as changes to formulations and warnings on mechanical dishwashing products are all down to the initiative of Committee members. The Committee has evaluated information on the identification and treatment of poisonings since 1965. It stores such information within BfR in a “poison information and recording system – GIFAS”. Besides substance and treatment information, details on more than 500,000 formulations, 100,000 cases of poisoning and more than 900 detailed human case reports (German/English) have been processed. Conclusion: The most important goal of the Committee’s work in the future is the setting up of an annual national monitoring report of poisonings in cooperation with the German PCs and the Society for Clinical Toxicology.