Are Hazard Assessment Methods in the Assessment of Chemical Alternatives Suitable for REACH?

17 July 2024, Version 2
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

The assessment of chemical alternatives for hazardous substances is an important prerequisite for avoiding regrettable substitution, and several methods have been developed in the past to perform such an hazard assessment for chemical alternatives. We investigate here whether GreenScreen®, Cradle to Cradle®, Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), the Pollution Prevention Options Analysis System, the U.S. EPA Safer Choice Standard and Criteria, and the GHS column model 2020 from IFA use similar criteria for the evaluation of substances as Article 57 of REACH and how suitable these methods are for assessing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. MCDA and GreenScreen® were analyzed in detail using two different datasets. The results of the assessments show that none of the investigated hazard assessment methods use the same criteria as described in Article 57 of REACH. It was also not possible to parameterize multi-attribute value theory (MAVT), a commonly used MCDA method, to align with Article 57 of REACH by using the relatively simple objective hierarchy that has been proposed in previous publications. There is therefore an urgent need for a modified/new method that can be used in the future to assess organic substances that are used within the European Economic Area.

Keywords

Alternative assessment
GreenScreen
Mulit-criteria decision analysis
Hazard assessment
Article 57 of REACH

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
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Title
Supporting Information-1
Description
Contains additional information on the methods and method parameter
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Supporting Information-2
Description
Calculations in MS Excel
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