Risk management of chemicals encompasses a broad set of activities that starts with the responsibility of industry to ensure safe production and use. Government actions, whether regulatory or policy approaches, direct and shape risk management and reduction. The OECD provides a forum for governments and stakeholders to share experience and approaches. This promotes continued advancement of risk management tools and improvement in risk reduction.
Risk management, risk reduction and sustainable chemistry
Risk management is essential to protect both human health and the environment from risks posed by chemicals. It encompasses both regulatory and non-regulatory approaches that range from bans and restrictions to proactive sustainable chemistry informed approaches. The OECD is working with countries and stakeholders to share approaches and build best practices for risk management. This includes activities on chemical selection and substitution, sustainable chemistry, socioeconomic assessment, activities on specific chemicals such as PFAS and tools for risk management.
Key messages
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a broad set of chemicals renowned for their unique properties and used in many consumer and industrial applications. Due to their tendency to persist in the environment and accumulate in the human body and food chains, PFASs have become a matter of global concern. The OECD facilitates the exchange of information on PFAS and supports a global transition towards safer alternatives.
The selection of a chemical, whether for the purposes of substitution, in the innovation context, in material and product design or in a process, has implications for human health and the environment. While efforts have focused on safer substitution to reduce hazard and risk, there is growing alignment with sustainable chemistry principles to drive selection of both safer and sustainable chemicals, materials, products and processes. The selection of a substitute can be a very complex process. The OECD has developed guidance for considerations for selecting safer chemicals, information regarding incentivizing substitution through government policy, economic approaches and third-party tools. It also hosts the Substitution and Alternatives Toolbox (SAAToolbox) which compiles resources relevant to chemical substitution, selection and alternatives assessment. Activities are underway to also inform approaches for more sustainable selection of chemicals. This builds on past OECD work on sustainable chemistry.
Plastics are composed of polymers and chemical additives designed to provide certain properties to the material. However, these substances can have impacts on human health and environment across the lifecycle. Therefore, their selection and use must be given careful consideration to minimise risks. The OECD has developed guidance and case studies for designers and engineers to encourage sustainable chemistry thinking when selecting chemicals for the design of more sustainable plastics, supporting better outcomes and a more transparent process.
The assessment of chemicals management options and environmental policies can be considerably improved by better estimating their costs and benefits. Financing national chemicals management programmes also often requires economic justification of the benefits of such investments. However, there has historically been insufficient data to support such analyses. The OECD’s work in this area provides important data to policy makers to create better and more appropriate chemicals regulations.
OECD work on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
PFAS are a broad set of chemicals renowned for their unique properties and used in many consumer and industrial applications. Due to their tendency to persist in the environment and accumulate in the human body and food chains, PFASs have become a matter of global concern. There is growing interest by regulators across countries to address legacy and novel PFAS. The OECD plays a key role in sharing information about PFAS and promoting a shift towards safer alternatives.
Key publications on PFAS
OECD work on chemical selection including alternatives assessment and substitution of harmful chemicals
The OECD has developed guidance for considerations for selecting safer chemicals and synthesised information regarding incentivising substitution through government policy, economic approaches and third-party tools. Also, the OECD Substitution and Alternatives Assessment Toolbox - SAAT Toolbox- compiles resources relevant to chemical substitution, selection and alternatives assessment. It includes tools and data sources to help users to evaluate potential hazards of chemicals with a subset focused on materials, processes and products. Additional tools address exposure assessment, life-cycle assessment and economic and social considerations. The SAAT Toolbox also contains topical frameworks, guides, toolkits and product rating systems developed by various organisations. Case studies on substitution conducted by manufacturers, academic institutions, NGOs or government bodies are compiled.
OECD work on sustainable chemistry
Sustainable chemistry is an integral part of the work on chemicals management at the OECD. Taking a proactive sustainable chemistry approach supports risk management of chemicals, materials and products from their conception and enhances life-cycle thinking.
Sustainable chemistry is also a process that stimulates innovation across all sectors to design and discover new chemicals, production processes, and product stewardship practices that will provide increased performance and increased value while meeting the goals of protecting and enhancing human health and the environment.
The environmental and societal benefits of sustainable chemistry include:
- Avoiding the use of persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic, and otherwise hazardous materials;
- Using renewable resources and decreasing consumption of non-renewable resources,
- Minimising negative environmental impacts of chemical processing and manufacturing;
- Providing technologies that are economically competitive for and advantageous to industry.
