Tracking Toxicants: Toward a Life Cycle Aware Risk Assessment

Abstract

The policies concerning product development and use are increasingly informed by life cycle assessment (LCA) and risk assessment (RA): LCA is often invoked to achieve “sustainability” whereas RA is used when seeking to avoid harm when dealing with toxic substances. In this Feature, Kuczenski et al. argue that green chemistry principles—which encourage reducing the use of toxic chemicals and processes—suggest a way to combine LCA and RA in product assessment.