Expanding the Toolbox: Hazard-Screening Methods and Tools for Identifying Safer Chemicals in Green Product Design

Abstract

A key focus of green product design is to reduce the product’s inherent chemical hazard. Various alternative assessment methodologies may be used to compare the hazard properties of possible candidate chemicals. However, only a small fraction of the chemicals currently in commercial use are adequately characterized in terms of toxicological effects. This limitation can hamper the study of safer chemical alternatives and increase the likelihood of regrettable substitutions. Approaches for addressing such data gaps include read-across, in silico programs and high throughput in chemico and in silico assays. Each of these show considerable promise although a consensus on how to use them for hazard evaluation of data poor chemicals is lacking. The limitations of such tools, which attempt to simplify complex biology into key predictive factors, is also often underestimated. To evaluate currently available approaches for addressing data gaps, we established three test sets of chemicals, each with structural simi...