GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals

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The GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals is a transparent, open standard for assessing chemical hazard that supports alternatives assessment for toxics use reduction through identifying chemicals of concern and safer alternatives. [1] It is used by researchers, product formulators and certifiers in a variety of industries, including building products, textiles, apparel, and consumer products.

Contents

The GreenScreen prioritizes the avoidance of substances with a high hazard as a carcinogen, mutagen, reproductive toxicant or developmental toxicant or endocrine disruptor or that are a persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substance (PBT).

Types of analysis

The GreenScreen protocol is published in a Guidance document that is reviewed and updated regularly. The description here is based upon the Hazard Assessment Guidance Version 1.4 [2] An assessment using the GreenScreen has two major outputs:

The GreenScreen process has two levels of analysis:

A full GreenScreen Assessment provides a more complete hazard profile of a substance than a List Translator screening. It involves a detailed review of the scientific literature to attempt to determine hazard levels for all endpoints and calculate a GreenScreen benchmark. It may also use models and studies of analogs where direct data are scarce. Each endpoint hazard level is also assigned a confidence level based on the quality of the data.

Benchmark scores

The GreenScreen List Translator only can flag chemicals known to be of highest concern. A full GreenScreen Assessment can benchmark chemicals as being of lower concern. The Benchmark scale is:

The assessment requires data for most endpoints in order to give a substance a benchmark of lower concern than BM-1

Benchmark 1 is reserved for substances with a high hazard of any of the following:

High hazards for other human health endpoints, such as neurotoxicity and respiratory sensitization, receive a Benchmark 2

This parallels the prioritization schemes underlying various international governmental regulatory programs such as the Substance of very high concern definition within the REACH Regulation of the European Union.

Special cases

DG - Data gaps: Strict guidelines limit the amount of data gaps. Where there are data gaps, the assessment includes a worst case scenario to determine the lowest possible Benchmark score if the data gap were filled with the highest possible hazard. These Benchmarks include a subscript of DG. A chemical that has too many data gaps receives a Benchmark U.

TP - Transformation Products: The assessment also must identify feasible and relevant environmental transformation products and benchmark them. If the Benchmark score is determined by the transformation products, the Benchmark score will include a subscript of TP.

CoHC - Chemicals of High Concern (polymer residuals & catalysts): Version 1.4 of the GreenScreen added special rules for benchmarking polymers which include analysis of residual monomers and/or catalysts present at or above 100 ppm. If the Benchmark score is determined by one of these chemicals, the Benchmark score will include a subscript of CHoC.

Applications

GreenScreen Assessments are internally used for research and product improvement by product manufacturers in many industry sectors, including electronics, [3] building products, textiles, apparel, and consumer products. [4] For example Apple is using GreenScreen framework and similar approaches to find safer materials in its products and processes. [5] The GreenScreen is also referenced publicly by sustainability standards in several of these industries, including the Health Product Declaration Standard (HPD), [6] Portico, [7] Building product disclosure and optimization - material ingredients credits in the US Green Building Council's LEED program, [8] the International Living Future Institute's Living Product Challenge [9] (related to the Living Building Challenge, and by various governmental bodies. [ citation needed ]

The GreenScreen standard is developed, maintained and published by Clean Production Action (CPA), a non profit organization, based in the United States. CPA publishes the GreenScreen as an open standard which anyone can utilize. To make a public claim using a GreenScreen Benchmark, however, the GreenScreen assessment must be completed by a Profiler licensed by CPA.[ citation needed ]

The GreenScreen has substantial overlaps with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) and the criteria of the US EPA’s Design for the Environment. It differs from GHS, however, in some significant ways. GreenScreen has a lower threshold of analysis. GreenScreen includes endocrine activity, addresses PBTs more comprehensively and considers environmental transformation products. GreenScreen also requires and provides guidance for addressing data gaps. GHS, on the other hand, covers more physical workplace hazards then the GreenScreen and provides guidelines for identifying hazards across languages with icons. This reflects the GHS focus on workplace safety and communications.[ citation needed ]

The Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Product Certification program includes a hazard screening protocol that is similar to the GreenScreen and GHS in many ways. The C2C analysis divides endpoints differently and is integrated into a product certification. There is not a standalone public assessment of individual substances.

These programs have been the subject of analysis evaluating the relationships, differences and opportunities for harmonization. [10]

Related Research Articles

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Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ such as the liver (hepatotoxicity). By extension, the word may be metaphorically used to describe toxic effects on larger and more complex groups, such as the family unit or society at large. Sometimes the word is more or less synonymous with poisoning in everyday usage.

Safety data sheet System for cataloging information, potential hazards and instructions for safe use associated with a material or product

A safety data sheet (SDS), material safety data sheet (MSDS), or product safety data sheet (PSDS) is a document that lists information relating to occupational safety and health for the use of various substances and products. SDSs are a widely used system for cataloguing information on chemicals, chemical compounds, and chemical mixtures. SDS information may include instructions for the safe use and potential hazards associated with a particular material or product, along with spill-handling procedures. The older MSDS formats could vary from source to source within a country depending on national requirements; however, the newer SDS format is internationally standardized.

Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976

The Toxic Substances Control Act is a United States law, passed by the 94th United States Congress in 1976 and administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that regulates the introduction of new or already existing chemicals. When the TSCA was put into place, all existing chemicals were considered to be safe for use and subsequently grandfathered in. Its three main objectives are to assess and regulate new commercial chemicals before they enter the market, to regulate chemicals already existing in 1976 that posed an "unreasonable risk to health or to the environment", as for example PCBs, lead, mercury and radon, and to regulate these chemicals' distribution and use.

Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act 1986 United States law

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 is a United States federal law passed by the 99th United States Congress located at Title 42, Chapter 116 of the U.S. Code, concerned with emergency response preparedness.

Fluoranthene Chemical compound

Fluoranthene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). The molecule can be viewed as the fusion of naphthalene and benzene unit connected by a five-membered ring. Although samples are often pale yellow, the compound is colorless. It is soluble in nonpolar organic solvents. It is a member of the class of PAHs known as non-alternant PAHs because it has rings other than those with six carbon atoms. It is a structural isomer of the alternant PAH pyrene. It is not as thermodynamically stable as pyrene. Its name is derived from its fluorescence under UV light.

Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals International standard managed by the United Nations

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) is an internationally agreed-upon standard managed by the United Nations that was set up to replace the assortment of hazardous material classification and labelling schemes previously used around the world. Core elements of the GHS include standardized hazard testing criteria, universal warning pictograms, and harmonized safety data sheets which provide users of dangerous goods with a host of information. The system acts as a complement to the UN Numbered system of regulated hazardous material transport. Implementation is managed through the UN Secretariat. Although adoption has taken time, as of 2017, the system has been enacted to significant extents in most major countries of the world. This includes the European Union, which has implemented the United Nations' GHS into EU law as the CLP Regulation, and United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.

The European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) was the focal point for the data and assessment procedure on dangerous chemicals within the European Union (EU). The ECB was located in Ispra, Italy, under the responsibility of the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. In 2008 the ECB completed its mandate. Some of its activities were taken over by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA); others remained within the Joint Research Centre's Institute for Health & Consumer Protection (IHCP). Tasks of the former ECB still managed by JRC-IHCP include: the Review Programme on the risk assessment of Biocides, the development of a methodology for the future Regulation on the Prioritisation of Chemical Substances and its corresponding Environmental Quality Standards (EQS); the harmonisation of testing methods and 'non-testing methods'.

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California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

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The European chemical Substances Information System (ESIS) was a chemoinformatics database that stored information system on chemicals of the European Union. It was created by the former European Chemicals Bureau, which completed its mandate in 2008, in the year 2003. ESIS was set up by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in order to make data on the safety of chemicals more readily accessible to the public, offering a single search tool on chemicals and the legislation under which they are presently covered. By October 3, 2013, ESIS contained 14,897 substance records.

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Galaxolide Chemical compound

Galaxolide is a synthetic musk with a clean sweet musky floral woody odor used in fragrances. It is one of the musk components that perfume and cologne manufacturers use to add a musk odor to their products. Galaxolide was first synthesized in 1965, and used in the late 1960s in some fabric softeners and detergents. High concentrations were also incorporated in fine fragrances.

Bioconcentration is the accumulation of a chemical in or on an organism when the source of chemical is solely water. Bioconcentration is a term that was created for use in the field of aquatic toxicology. Bioconcentration can also be defined as the process by which a chemical concentration in an aquatic organism exceeds that in water as a result of exposure to a waterborne chemical.

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Tissue residue is the concentration of a chemical or compound in an organism's tissue or in a portion of an organism's tissue. Tissue residue is used in aquatic toxicology to help determine the fate of chemicals in aquatic systems, bioaccumulation of a substance, or bioavailability of a substance, account for multiple routes of exposure, and address an organism's exposure to chemical mixtures. A tissue residue approach to toxicity testing is considered a more direct and less variable measure of chemical exposure and is less dependent on external environmental factors than measuring the concentration of a chemical in the exposure media.

Occupational toxicology is the application of toxicology to chemical hazards in the workplace. It focuses on substances and conditions that occur in workplaces, where inhalation exposure and dermal exposure are most important, there is often exposure to mixtures of chemicals whose interactions are complex, health effects are influenced or confounded by other environmental and individual factors, and there is a focus on identifying early adverse affects that are more subtle than those presented in clinical medicine.

Toxicological databases are large compilations of data derived from aquatic and environmental toxicity studies. Data is aggregated from a large number of individual studies in which toxic effects upon aquatic and terrestrial organisms have been determined for different chemicals. These databases are then used by toxicologists, chemists, regulatory agencies and scientists to investigate and predict the likelihood that an organic or inorganic chemical will cause an adverse effect on exposed organisms.

Alternatives assessment or alternatives analysis is a problem-solving approach used in environmental design, technology, and policy. It aims to minimize environmental harm by comparing multiple potential solutions in the context of a specific problem, design goal, or policy objective. It is intended to inform decision-making in situations with many possible courses of action, a wide range of variables to consider, and significant degrees of uncertainty. Alternatives assessment was originally developed as a robust way to guide precautionary action and avoid paralysis by analysis; authors such as O'Brien have presented alternatives assessment as an approach that is complementary to risk assessment, the dominant decision-making approach in environmental policy. Likewise, Ashford has described the similar concept of technology options analysis as a way to generate innovative solutions to the problems of industrial pollution more effectively than through risk-based regulation.

The GreenScreen List Translator is a procedure for assessing chemical hazard used to identify chemicals of concern to prioritize for removal from product formulations. The List Translator assesses substances based on their presence on lists of chemicals associated with human and environmental health hazards issued by a global set of governmental and professional scientific bodies, such as the European Union’s GHS hazard statements and California's Proposition 65.

References

  1. ↑ Heine, Lauren; Franjevic, Shari (January 2013). "Chemical Hazard Assessment and the GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals". Issues in Environmental Science and Technology. 36. doi:10.1039/9781849737234-00129 . Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  2. ↑ GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals Hazard Assessment Guidance for Chemicals, Polymers and Products (Version 1.4 ed.). Clean Production Action. January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  3. ↑ Holder, Helen A.; Mazurkiewicz, P. H.; Robertson, C. A.; Wray, C. A. (2013). "Hewlett-Packard's use of the GreenScreen for safer chemicals". In R. M. Harrison; R. E. Hester (eds.). Chemical alternatives assessments. Issues in Environmental Science and Technology. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry. pp. 157–176. ISBN   978-1-84973-723-4.
  4. ↑ Winnebeck, Kathryn (March 2011). "An abbreviated alternatives assessment process for product designers: a children's furniture manufacturing case study". Journal of Cleaner Production. 19 (5): 464–476. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.10.008.
  5. ↑ Rob Guzzo, Mike Werner, Art Fong, Lida Tan, Thomas Ebert (September 2016). “Integrating Toxicological Assessments in Material Selection for Apple Products”. Apple. Retrieved October 2018.
  6. ↑ "HPD Open Standard". HPDC. Health Product Declaration Collaborative. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Help Center: How are products scored?". Portico. Healthy Building Network. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Building product disclosure and optimization - material ingredients". EED BD+C: New Construction v4 - LEED v4 - Materials & Resources. US Green Building Council. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "Living Product Challenge Standard V 1.1" (PDF). Living Product Challenge Certification. International Living Future Institute. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  10. ↑ Heine, Lauren. "Material Health Evaluation Programs Harmonization Opportunities Report" (PDF). USGBC Resources. US Green Building Council. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
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