BfR Annual Report 2015

BfR

Annual Report 2015

“Identifying risks – protecting health” – this is the central task of the BfR. The institute is headed

by its President, Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel, and his Vice-President, Prof. Dr. Reiner Wittkowski.

They are supported in their work by several staff units and the nine departments profiled below.

The department devotes itself to the

health assessment of active sub-

stances and formulations of plant pro-

tection products and biocides prior to

legal approval. This involves the evalu-

ation of toxicological properties with

the aim of classification and labelling,

as well as the derivation of limit val-

ues. Under consideration of anticipat-

ed exposure levels, risk assessments

are carried out in order to ensure safe

use of the products in question. It also

reviews residue monitoring methods

and works on the further development

of assessment strategies.

The Administration Department is the

service provider for all the specialist

departments of the institute. It han-

dles infrastructure, personnel recruit-

ment, advice for employees in person-

nel matters, control and monitoring of

revenues and expenditures, and the

organisational and technical mainte-

nance of the premises and the institute

grounds. The department publishes

organisational regulations for the in-

stitute and is also responsible at the

same time for compliance with legal

regulations.

Administration Department

Head: Heike Morisse

The Risk Communication Department

with its interdisciplinary make-up con-

ducts research projects on the per-

ception of risks and their early identi-

fication, and on the estimation of their

impact. A further focal point of its work

is crisis prevention and coordination.

The department also handles press

and PR activities, the BfR committee

system and the BfR Academy. The

dialogue with stakeholders from sci-

ence, trade and industry, politics, the

media, associations, non-government

organisations and consumers is also

of significance.

Risk Communication Department

Head: PD Dr. Gaby-Fleur Böl

The department assesses consumer

exposure in the areas of food, chemi-

cal and product safety and offers in-

terdisciplinary scientific cooperation in

such areas as mathematical modelling.

The department performs legally pre-

scribed tasks and conducts research

projects in the areas of chemical safe-

ty, dangerous goods transport, toxicity

and product documentation, and good

laboratory practice. It also conducts

research projects and is a service pro-

vider of the BfR's IT requirements.

Exposure Department

Head: Professor Dr. Matthias Greiner

The department is involved with the

health risks to humans due in particu-

lar to microorganisms as well as the

toxins formed by these microorgan-

isms and other microbial metabolites.

The assessments encompass not only

food but also feed and consumer prod-

ucts (e. g. food packaging material,

tableware), as well as cosmetics – in-

cluding the processes involved in their

extraction, production, processing and

distribution – as vehicles of biological

risk.

Biological Safety Department

Head: Professor Dr. Bernd Appel

The department assesses foods with

regard to the risk posed by the sub-

stances they contain, which include

natural ingredients, additives and

flavourings as well as undesired sub-

stances that find their way into foods

through production, storage or treat-

ment processes. In addition, nutritional

risks as well as the risks of particular

population groups are also assessed.

An integral part of the assessment

consists of experimental projects on

the effect mechanisms of the oral

intake (bioavailability), internal expo-

sure (biomarker) and molecular effect

mechanisms (toxicogenomics) of rel-

evant substances.

Food Safety Department

Head: Professor Dr. Dr. Alfonso Lampen

Pesticides Safety Department

Head: Dr. Roland Solecki

The Executive Board and

the Departments