Toolkit for Exposure Assessment: Beginners Start Here

Understand how the chemical flows through commerce?

Understanding how a specific chemical flows through commerce helps to determine how a chemical might reach the workers, communities, consumers and/or the public.

Possible questions to ask suppliers and others include (modified from Beck et al., "Outline and Criteria for Evaluating the Safety of New Chemicals," REGULATORY TOXICOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY 1: 19-58 (1981):

Manufacture:

• Where will the chemical be manufactured?
• In what quantities?
• What opportunities exist for loss or escape of the chemical during manufacture?
• What opportunities exist for human and environmental exposure during manufacture under both routine and exceptional circumstances?
• What measures are (or will be) taken to control such exposures?

Shipping:

• How will the chemical be shipped?
• What quantities will be shipped?
• How large will the containers be?
• What opportunities exist for human or environmental exposure during shipping?
• What is the likelihood of accidental spillage?
• What measures will be taken to control such exposure?

Storage:

• Where will the chemical be stored?
• Under what conditions will it be stored?
• What quantities will be stored?
• How large will the containers be?
• What opportunities exist for human or environmental exposure during storage?
• What is the likelihood of accidental spillage?
• What measures will be taken to control such exposures?

Formulation of Commercial or Consumer Products:

• How will the chemical be compounded, packaged, and distributed?
• What opportunities exist for human or environmental exposures during these processes?
• What is the likelihood of accidental spillage?
• What measures will be taken to control such exposures?

Uses in Processes/Products:

• For what purpose will the chemical be used?
• Which of its properties make it suitable for that use?
• Will it be ingested, inhaled, or applied to the skin during use? If so, in what quantities? How often? For how long?
• Will usage be geographically localized or widespread?
• Will it be used more by one sort of people (e.g., age group, occupation, gender, etc.) than by another?
• Might other companies use or offer the same chemical for a similar purpose? For a different purpose? If so, what quantities are likely to be involved?
• Is the chemical to be used under conditions that prevent or restrict its escape into the environment or its contact with people?
• Is the chemical so altered during usage as to lose its chemical identity? If so, what is it changed into?

Consumer Uses:

• Will it be ingested, inhaled, or applied to the skin during use? If so, in what quantities? How often? For how long?
• Will usage be geographically localized or widespread?
• Will it be used more by one sort of people (e.g., age group, occupation, gender, etc.) than by another?
• Might other companies use or offer the same chemical for a similar purpose? For a different purpose? If so, what quantities are likely to be involved?
• Is the chemical to be used under conditions that prevent its contact with people?
• In what ways might the chemical be accidentally or deliberately misused?
• What human exposures might result from misuse?
• How can the possibility of misuse be minimized?

Release to the Environment After Use:

• By what routes will the chemical be disposed of after use?
• What quantities will be disposed of by each route?
• Will disposal be localized or general?
• What is the likelihood of accidental spillage during disposal?
• What environmental concentrations will result from disposal?
• What human exposures may occur during disposal?
• Will disposal involve chemical transformation of the chemical?

Resources

• The supplier(s) of a chemical.
• Trade associations associated with a particular class of chemicals, e.g., the Soap & Detergent Association for surfactants.
• Web sites containing chemical usage information include the following:
  • ChemExpo at: http://www.chemexpo.com Pick "News" and then "Chemical Profiles"
  • Environmental Chemicals Data and Information Network (ECDIN) at: http://ecdin.etomep.net Searching a chemical's name or CAS # provides a document that includes information on production and uses.
  • Environmental Defense Scorecard's "Chemical Use Profile" at: http://www.scorecard.org/ Pick "About the Chemicals" and then "Chemical Use Profile"
  • (U.S.) National Library of Medicine's Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) at: http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ Pick "HSDB" and then search for chemical of interest
  • Ullman's Encylcopedia of Industrial Chemistry at: http://www.wiley-vch.de/contents/ullmann/ Search for chemical of interest and then pick "Section 4, Uses"