Expert Opinions in Medical Toxicology

The focus is on the issue of medical-related toxicological expert opinions, ie. the assessment of a possible causal relationship between exposure to health hazards on the one hand and the occurrence or the pre- sence of a disease on the other.

Such expert opinions on causal relationships have a predominant importance in the assessment of an occupational disease caused by health hazards in a judicial procedure at social courts.

Predominant areas of these expert opinions regarding the types of disease and the groups of health hazards are mainly:

• Neurological disorders such as encephalopathy, polyneuropathy and especially Parkinson's disease, acute and chronic respiratory diseases, cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, kidney, bladder, liver and respiratory tract, acute and chronic skin damages, etc.,

• In the focus of the assessment are various health hazard substances that may cause occupational diseases. They are listed e.g. in the German list of occupational diseases (“Berufskrankheitenliste”) in subparagraphs 1101-1110, 1201-1202, 1301-1311 and 1314-1318, for example, heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, beryllium, etc., as well as palladium (esp. as part of dentures), Organic Solvents such as methanol, trichloroethylene, toluene, and active ingredients of biocides and pesticides as well as of wood preservatives, etc.. In principle, analogous expert opinions can be issued for occupational diseases in other countries than Germany.

These expert opinions are predominantly required and initiated by social courts in order to evaluate the possible causal relationship between the occupational disease on one hand and the exposure versus health hazards at the workplace on the other.

The issue of private expert opinions is also possible, however, this generally is the exception.