The International Symposium “One substance – one assessment? The next 20 years” of the BfR takes place on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the institute; a fitting time to draw a critical résumé of what has been achieved for consumer health protection in the last two decades and to take a look into the future. The core thesis of the event, “One substance, one assess- ment”, is probably a consensus in the EU – however, it is still at least several years away from its consistent imple- mentation. It is not only based on an economic motivation through simplification and acceleration of procedures as well as reduction of bureaucracy, but primarily on im- proved protection of humans from adverse effects: at the workplace as well as at home.