Division 3.7.1.1 Reproductive toxicity means adverse effects on sexual function and fertility in adult males and females, as well as developmental toxicity in the offspring, occurring after exposure to a substance or mixture. The definitions presented below are adapted from those agreed as working definitions in IPCS/EHC Document No 225, Principles for Evaluating Health Risks to Reproduction Associated with Exposure to Chemicals. For classification purposes, the known induction of genetically based inheritable effects in the offspring is addressed in Germ Cell Mutagenicity (Section 3.5), since in the present classification system it is considered more appropriate to address such effects under the separate hazard class of germ cell mutagenicity.F1
United Kingdom
In this classification system, reproductive toxicity is subdivided into two main headings:
- (a)
adverse effects on sexual function and fertility;
- (b)
adverse effects on development of the offspring.
Some reproductive toxic effects cannot be clearly assigned to either impairment of sexual function and fertility or to developmental toxicity. Nonetheless, substances and mixtures with these effects shall be classified as reproductive toxicants with a general hazard statement.