Sustainability and Global Product Stewardship

 In recent years, activities related to sustainability and product stewardship have transitioned from voluntary programs to fully integrated company mandates that consider the impact of a product on human health and the environment throughout its life cycle. Companies are performing these activities in a manner that reaches beyond regulatory compliance, aiming to be good stewards of public health and the environment. Sustainability and product stewardship are continuous processes that are interdisciplinary in nature and global in reach. The core competencies of ToxStrategies—chemistry, exposure assessment, toxicology (both human health and ecological), risk assessment, and risk communication—are critical components to ensuring the safety and sustainability of products across their life cycle. 

ToxStrategies’ experts have decades of experience in product stewardship and chemical hazard assessments, as well as capabilities using various tools that support sustainability and product stewardship efforts around the world. ToxStrategies’ capabilities include the following: 

  • Green Chemistry Tools and Application
    • Experience applying or reviewing output of standardized hazard assessment approaches, including the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), US EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) Program, Alternatives Assessment Criteria for Hazard Evaluation, Clean Production Action GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals, and Cradle-to-Cradle Material Health Assessment
    • Experience and familiarity with hazard and alternatives assessment tools (such as Pharos, ToxNot, and ChemForward) used to inform safer chemical alternatives
    • Assistance with developing alternative assessments, such as those required under California’s Safer Consumer Products regulations
    • Experience with various alternatives assessment frameworks, such as U.S. EPA’s DfE Criteria for Safer Chemical Ingredients, the Interstate Chemicals Clearing House Alternatives Assessment Guide, and the National Research Council’s Framework to Guide Selection of Chemical Alternatives
    • Experts in using tools for read-across and quantitative structure activity relationships (QSARs) to assess potential hazards, including OECD QSAR Toolbox, VEGA-QSAR, ToxTree, USEPA EPI Suite, Lhasa Ltd. Derek Nexus, and Leadscope Model Applier
    • Experience developing programs to provide a scientific basis for accepting or rejecting proposed new raw materials at various stages in the research and development process
  • Product Safety
    • Safety assessment capabilities for a variety of categories, including cosmetic and personal care ingredients and products, food additives and ingredients, and biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical toxicological monographs
    • Cosmeto- and pharmacovigiliance
    • Assistance with foreign material assessment or contaminant/allergen issues
    • Exposure assessments and development of safe harbor levels (NSRLs/MADLs) under California’s Proposition 65
    • Development of sampling and analysis protocols for analytical laboratories to follow when assessing a product
  • Life-Cycle Considerations
    • Product-specific life-cycle exposure and risk assessment, including REACH, and new and existing chemical and article risk evaluations under
      amended TSCA
    • Review and provide advice regarding inputs for product life-cycle assessment related to exposure and toxicity
    • Provide context for toxicological significance (ecological and human health) from the output of life-cycle assessments
    • Develop process diagrams to understand where in the supply chain a non-intentionally added ingredient may enter a product or ingredient
  • Engagement with the Product Stewardship and Sustainability Community
    • Active memberships in the Association for Advancing Alternative Assessments, the Society of Toxicology’s Sustainable Chemistry through Contemporary Toxicology Specialty Section, and the American Industrial Hygiene Association Stewardship and Sustainability Committee
  • Regulatory Integration Support
    • Extensive experience with the United Nations GHS; amended TSCA; REACH; OSHA HazCom 2012; European Union’s Classification, Labeling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (CLP) regulation; and other relevant regulations
    • Coordinating and integrating product safety across multiple regulatory regimes

For more information about ToxStrategies’ consulting services, please contact us.