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In recent years, many livelihood issues, such as food safety, have been caused by the lack of understanding of chemical substances. The variety and composition of chemical substances are complicated, and tens of thousands of data of chemicals are being registered worldwide each year. Besides, with the development of science and technology, many chemical substances have been extensively applied in all aspects of human life, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and recreation. Although applications of chemical substances can bring comfort and convenience to human life, they also pose potential concerns to human health, safety, and the environment. These concerns provide the motivation of this study. Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act has been amended to include concerned chemical substances, and a drastic growth in the number of controlled substances is expected. Even though Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act provides screening criteria for toxic and concerned chemical substances, there is a high variety of chemical substances. The purpose of the present study is to quickly and extensively evaluate and screen out the potential substances to be listed.
This study first conducts a preliminary analysis of Toxic Substances Control Act of the United States (TSCA), the chemical substances controlled by Chemical Substances Control Law in Japan, and Korea’s Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (K-RECAH) to select a total of 509 chemical substances that should be given an evaluation priority from the chemical substances that overlapped in the lists of controlled chemicals in these countries. Of these selected chemical substances, 68 have been listed as controlled substances by Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan of Taiwan, in pursuant to Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act. Using the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling and Chemicals (GHS) as a foundation, this study further proposes a cumulative hazard value that is estimated based on the acute inhalation toxicity, acute dermal toxicity, carcinogenicity, skin irritation, and eye irritation of each substance. Among the 67 chemical substances controlled by Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act, the average cumulative hazard value is 36.91. This value can then be used as a criterion for evaluating chemical substances that have not been controlled by Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act. 24 chemical substances are found to have a cumulative hazard value over 37. These substances should be prioritized for preliminary screening for toxic and concerned chemical substances. 22 chemical substances have a cumulative hazard value between 30 and 37. Further evaluation can be conducted to assess if any of them should be listed as a toxic and concerned chemical substance. Overall about 10% of the overlapped substances can be selected as candidates for further studies for listing.
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