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. Cheminformatic exploration of the chemical landscape of consumer products
Citation:
Goldsmith, M., P. Egeghy, AND K. Isaacs. . Cheminformatic exploration of the chemical landscape of consumer products. Presented at ISES 2014, Cincinnati, OH, October 12 - 16, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Although Consumer products are a primary source of chemical exposures, little information is available on the chemical ingredients of these products and the concentrations at which they are present. To address this data gap, we have created a database of chemicals in consumer products using product Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) publicly provided by a large retailer. The resulting database represents 1797 unique chemicals mapped to 8921 consumer products and a hierarchy of 353 consumer product "use categories" within a total of 15 top-level categories. We examine the utility of this database for the purpose of prioritizing chemicals, and discuss ways in which it will support (i) exposure screening and prioritization, (ii) identification of generic or framework formulations for several indoor/consumer product exposure modeling initiatives, (iii) candidate chemical selection for monitoring near field exposure from proximal sources, and (iv) as activity tracers or ubiquitous exposure sources using “chemical space” map analyses; Chemicals present at high concentrations and across multiple consumer products and use categories that hold high exposure potential are identified. In this presentation the audience will familiarize themselves with consumer product ingredient signatures, rationale for developing generic or framework formulations, novel visualization and analysis of the entire consumer product ingredient landscape. We will also discuss areas for improvement such as fragrances/flavor ingredients, packaging and manufacturing residues, and under-reported ingredients to carve out a path for full disclosure of chemical ingredient profiles of consumer products. [ Disclaimer: The views expressed in this abstract are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]