Collection
Advances in Methods and Practice of Alternatives Assessment
Guest Editor: Joel Tickner
Table of Contents
Joel Tickner, Molly Jacobs, Tim Malloy, Topher Buck, Alex Stone, Ann Blake, Sally Edwards
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 15, Issue 6, November 2019, Pages 855-866, https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4094
Key Points
- Alternatives assessment (AA) is experiencing “growing pains” as the demand for safer chemicals, materials, and products and the development of a variety of tools and methods outpace the establishment of standardized approaches and a coherent research and practice agenda.
- To advance consistency and growth in the application of AA in science policy, 15 research and practice needs are identified, ranging from efforts to define a minimum hazard data set to the development of performance and decision-analytic methods and data integration tools.
- Methods development efforts for AA should support comprehensive, yet efficient, approaches for the informed substitution of hazardous chemicals, considering the variety of decision contexts in which it is used: regulation, business operations, green chemistry, and engineering development.
- Implementing this research and practice agenda will require dedicated funding, education, and training and the establishment of a more formalized, interdisciplinary community of practice to develop and apply new approaches and share best practices.
- Alternatives assessment (AA) is experiencing “growing pains” as the demand for safer chemicals, materials, and products and the development of a variety of tools and methods outpace the establishment of standardized approaches and a coherent research and practice agenda.
- To advance consistency and growth in the application of AA in science policy, 15 research and practice needs are identified, ranging from efforts to define a minimum hazard data set to the development of performance and decision-analytic methods and data integration tools.
- Methods development efforts for AA should support comprehensive, yet efficient, approaches for the informed substitution of hazardous chemicals, considering the variety of decision contexts in which it is used: regulation, business operations, green chemistry, and engineering development.
- Implementing this research and practice agenda will require dedicated funding, education, and training and the establishment of a more formalized, interdisciplinary community of practice to develop and apply new approaches and share best practices.
Lauren Heine, Amelia Nestler
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 15, Issue 6, November 2019, Pages 867-879, https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4165
Key Points
- Stakeholders provide insight into the alternatives assessment process that may not be initially apparent to researchers, and their preferences should be reflected in the metrics used to evaluate consumer products and industrial practices.
- Scoping alternatives is a critical step in problem definition; broadly scoping alternatives to include similar technologies, related but dissimilar technologies, and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for innovation should be included at an early stage.
- Because transparency is key to product assessment, hazard assessment work should be based on full disclosure of product ingredients and handled through a third party to protect proprietary information.
- Identifying viable alternatives does not necessarily result in successful substitution; information gaps considered critical to determining the suitability and acceptability of any potential alternative should be identified along with recommendations to address missing or incomplete information, or results may be contested.
- Stakeholders provide insight into the alternatives assessment process that may not be initially apparent to researchers, and their preferences should be reflected in the metrics used to evaluate consumer products and industrial practices.
- Scoping alternatives is a critical step in problem definition; broadly scoping alternatives to include similar technologies, related but dissimilar technologies, and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for innovation should be included at an early stage.
- Because transparency is key to product assessment, hazard assessment work should be based on full disclosure of product ingredients and handled through a third party to protect proprietary information.
- Identifying viable alternatives does not necessarily result in successful substitution; information gaps considered critical to determining the suitability and acceptability of any potential alternative should be identified along with recommendations to address missing or incomplete information, or results may be contested.
William Greggs, Thomas Burns, Peter Egeghy, Michelle R Embry, Peter Fantke, Bonnie Gaborek, Lauren Heine, Olivier Jolliet, Carolyn Lee, Derek Muir, Kathy Plotzke, Joseph Rinkevich, Neha Sunger, Jennifer Y Tanir, Margaret Whittaker
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 15, Issue 6, November 2019, Pages 880-894, https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4070
Key Points
- Alternatives Assessment (AA) describes the approach to identify, compare, and select safer and more sustainable alternatives to chemicals of concern.
- Alternatives Assessments have often been hazard-based rankings used to substitute individual ingredients and may not represent a fully informed consideration of advantages or disadvantages of possible alternative solutions.
- Chemical alternatives that may have a higher or different route of exposure potential (human or environmental) can be identified via a qualitative exposure approach, which could trigger a higher tiered, more quantitative assessment to minimize the likelihood of regrettable substitution.
- This work outlines a classification approach for including chemical ingredient- and product-related exposure information to support comparisons between alternatives in a qualitative manner using 2 case studies.
- Alternatives Assessment (AA) describes the approach to identify, compare, and select safer and more sustainable alternatives to chemicals of concern.
- Alternatives Assessments have often been hazard-based rankings used to substitute individual ingredients and may not represent a fully informed consideration of advantages or disadvantages of possible alternative solutions.
- Chemical alternatives that may have a higher or different route of exposure potential (human or environmental) can be identified via a qualitative exposure approach, which could trigger a higher tiered, more quantitative assessment to minimize the likelihood of regrettable substitution.
- This work outlines a classification approach for including chemical ingredient- and product-related exposure information to support comparisons between alternatives in a qualitative manner using 2 case studies.
Haoyang He, Timothy F Malloy, Julie M Schoenung
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 15, Issue 6, November 2019, Pages 895-908, https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4182
Key Points
- The evaluation and characterization of secondary data sources through multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) provide an innovative quantitative approach on guiding how to choose and evaluate data sources for chemical hazard assessment.
- Through MCDA analysis, the chemical-oriented data sources exhibit better performance compared to hazard-trait–oriented data sources and predictive data sources for chemical hazard assessment.
- The sensitivity analysis in multiattribute utility theory (MAUT) indicates the final score for each data source will vary by changing the weighting factor for each performance attribute, and some common trends can be captured for the 3 different types of data sources.
- The applications of MAUT and stochastic multiobjective acceptability analysis (SMAA) are complementary for making decisions on which data sources are more suitable for chemical hazard assessment and which performance attributes are of greatest importance.
- The evaluation and characterization of secondary data sources through multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) provide an innovative quantitative approach on guiding how to choose and evaluate data sources for chemical hazard assessment.
- Through MCDA analysis, the chemical-oriented data sources exhibit better performance compared to hazard-trait–oriented data sources and predictive data sources for chemical hazard assessment.
- The sensitivity analysis in multiattribute utility theory (MAUT) indicates the final score for each data source will vary by changing the weighting factor for each performance attribute, and some common trends can be captured for the 3 different types of data sources.
- The applications of MAUT and stochastic multiobjective acceptability analysis (SMAA) are complementary for making decisions on which data sources are more suitable for chemical hazard assessment and which performance attributes are of greatest importance.
Joel Tickner, Rachel Simon, Molly Jacobs, Cathy Rudisill, Jennifer Tanir, Lauren Heine, Pamela Spencer, Peter Fantke, Tim Malloy, Sally Edwards, Xiaoying Zhou
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 15, Issue 6, November 2019, Pages 909-916, https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4213
Key Points
- Over the coming years, the science and practice of alternatives assessment must evolve yet stay true to the ultimate goal of remaining responsive to emerging market and policy drivers, by supporting a transition to safer, more sustainable chemicals, materials, products, and processes.
- Several of the needs within the field create tension, requiring the field to growth thoughtfully to remain comprehensive yet efficient and effective, successfully linking necessary theoretical and foundational research with pragmatic application and practice.
- These objectives can be served by developing guidance and standards of practice, increasing data and decision transparency, and creating more comprehensive support programs to build capacity by engaging a broad set of scientists and practitioners.
- Over the coming years, the science and practice of alternatives assessment must evolve yet stay true to the ultimate goal of remaining responsive to emerging market and policy drivers, by supporting a transition to safer, more sustainable chemicals, materials, products, and processes.
- Several of the needs within the field create tension, requiring the field to growth thoughtfully to remain comprehensive yet efficient and effective, successfully linking necessary theoretical and foundational research with pragmatic application and practice.
- These objectives can be served by developing guidance and standards of practice, increasing data and decision transparency, and creating more comprehensive support programs to build capacity by engaging a broad set of scientists and practitioners.
