ADES: Assessment of Direct Exposure to Solvents Illustrated by a Case Study on Toluene. Thomas Vögl, Dr. Martin Scheringer, and Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler, Chemical Engineering Department, Environmental Science and Technology Group, ETH-Zentrum, CAB D46, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland, telephone +41 1 632 45 18, fax +41 1 632 11 89, e-mail voegl@tech.chem.ethz.ch
According to product liability regulations, manufacturers are liable for faulty products. Product liability demands a causal connection between the damage and the manufacturer’s product. Manufacturers can also be liable if their products become compound of other products. Thus, to prevent claims manufacturers are interested to know the risk of their products over the whole life cycle. In the context of product liability, human health is the most relevant safeguard subject. The exposure of humans can be either direct or indirect (i.e. through the environment). Because product liability demands causality between product and damage, direct exposure is much more relevant in this context. Direct exposure depends on the distribution of the substance in the market where several exposure groups such as workers and consumers can be identified. A considerable number of models exist for the distribution of substances in the environment but there is a lack of methods to assess the distribution of substances in the market. Solvents are widespread products which are produced in large quantities. Because they become compound of many other products, their life cycle is highly complex. Therefore, to assess the direct exposure of the different exposure groups to solvents, the method ADES (assessment of direct exposure to solvents) was developed. ADES will be illustrated by the means of a case study on toluene.
Go to . . .
1998 SRA-Europe Table of Contents
1998 SRA-Europe Author Index
Main Abstracts Menu Page
RiskWorld Home Page