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Ursula Klaschka, A dark side of nature: Natural substances as dangerous for the aquatic environment, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 12, Issue 4, 1 October 2016, Pages 828–829, https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.1804
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Natural substances are experiencing a rise in public acceptance in personal care products (PCPs), the medical field, and more recently in other applications, such as fracking. Most consumers expect natural substances to be harmless and associate their use with a sustainable and healthy lifestyle. However, natural substances can be toxic or even extremely toxic (e.g., strychnine or ricin). There is no scientific reason why natural substances should be regarded as less hazardous compared to synthetic substances. The European cosmetic regulation does well to prohibit the use of some very toxic substances in PCPs, but still very toxic natural substances are used in PCPs and elsewhere.
Hazard assessment via classification and labeling is a straightforward first assessment approach, either by the worldwide, globally harmonized system, or the European counterpart, the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation of substances and mixtures (EC 2008). I compared natural substances used in PCPs with the entries in the classification and labeling inventory, the so‐called “C&L inventory” (http://echa.europa.eu/web/guest/information-on-chemicals/cl-inventory-database).
