Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area of the DFG (MAK Commission)
Prof. Dr. Andrea Hartwig has been Chair of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area of the German Research Foundation (DFG) since March 2007. The Senate Commission, known as the MAK Commission for short, advises policymakers through science-based recommendations in accordance with the DFG's statutes. Every year, the MAK Commission publishes the List of MAK and BAT Values, in which the maximum workplace concentrations and biological tolerance values for substances in the workplace are specified on the basis of scientific findings.
The Senate Commission has been setting these limit values for substances at the workplace since 1955 and develops analytical methods to monitor them. In addition, it evaluates the substances with regard to their carcinogenic, germ cell-mutagenic, embryotoxic, skin-resorptive and sensitizing effects. The Senate Commission works independently of political and economic aspects, which means that its work results are based on purely scientific and transparent decision-making processes. The derivations of limit values and classifications are justified in detail and published.
The recommendations of the MAK Commission are taken into account in German legislation and are also used internationally, for example by the European Commission. Since 1985, the DFG has also published the List of MAK and BAT Values in English, and since 2017 also in Spanish.
Information on the work of the Senate Commission as well as committee members and chairperson
Detailed description of how the Secreteriat operates
Contact:
Scientific Secretariat of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area
Dr. Gunnar Jahnke and Dr. Gerlinde Schriever-Schwemmer
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Institute for Applied Biosciences
Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology
Kaiserstr. 12
76131 Karlsruhe
Phone +49 721 - 608-47400 or +49 8161 - 715601
E-mail: mak_sekr∂iab.kit.edu