A Human Health Risk Assessment of Boron (Boric Acid and Borax) in Drinking Water

A human health risk assessment was conducted to derive an appropriate safe exposure level in drinking water of inorganic boron-containing compounds (boric acid and borax).

Environmental Risk Assessment of Cleaning Product Ingredients

An Environmental Risk Assessment of a cleaning product is appropriately made by examining the formulation on an ingredient-by-ingredient basis. The examination is an iterative process that entails: 1) estimating the concentration below which each ingredient has no environmental effect, and the concentration in the environment predicted to result from the desired use of each ingredient in the product; 2) comparing these two concentrations; and 3) deciding on the basis of this comparison whether the desired use of each ingredient is clearly acceptable or clearly hazardous, or whether more testing is required in order to make such a determination. The use of an ingredient is judged environmentally acceptable if the environmental concentration of the ingredient due to all sources is lower than the no-effect level determined on the basis of an appropriately comprehensive environmental effects data base. The same approach can be used to assess minor components present in cleaning product ingredients, and compounds formed by the biological metabolism or by the chemical transformation of an ingredient as a result of product use or disposal. Broadly endorsed by the scientific community, this approach finds use in the cleaning products industry for evaluating ingredients and by government for regulating chemicals. Emphasis is placed on the application of this approach to the use and disposal of cleaning product ingredients which can enter the aquatic environment, since most cleaning products are used in water solutions that are disposed into wastewater treatment systems.

High Production Volume Chemical Amine Oxides [C₈–C₂₀] Category Environmental Risk Assessment

An environmental assessment of amine oxides has been conducted under the OECD SIDS High Production Volume (HPV) Program via the Global International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) Amine Oxides Consortium. Amine oxides are primarily used in conjunction with surfactants in cleaning and personal care products. Given the lack of persistence or bioaccumulation, and the low likelihood of these chemicals partitioning to soil, the focus of the environmental assessment is on the aquatic environment. In the United States, the E-FAST model is used to estimate effluent concentrations in the United States from manufacturing facilities and from municipal facilities resulting from consumer product uses. Reasonable worst-case ratios of predicted environmental concentration (PEC) to predicted no effect concentration (PNEC) range from 0.04 to 0.003, demonstrating that these chemicals are a low risk to the environment.

Environmental risk assessment of hydrotropes in the United States, Europe, and Australia

Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management
Volume 6 Issue 1, Pages 155 - 163

An environmental assessment of hydrotropes was conducted under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Screening Information Data Sets (SIDS) for High Production Volume (HPV) Program via the Global International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) Hydrotropes Consortium. The assessment and its conclusions were presented at a meeting of the OECD member countries in Washington, DC in 2005. The SIDS Initial Assessment Report (SIAR) was accepted by the membership. Their conclusion was The chemicals in this [hydrotropes] category are of low priority for further work because of their low hazard profile.