ChemFORWARD Module Unit 2: Avoiding Regrettable Substitutions, Natural Is Not Always Safer
Contributors
Summary
This unit reiterates the importance of avoiding regrettable substitutions, emphasizes the importance of data gaps, and also cautions that naturally-occurring chemicals are not always safer, regardless of the many claims made in some consumer products.
This module unit was reviewed by Julian Silverman (Ph.D.) and Sarah Prescott (Ph.D.).
The inspiration of this work began with a Forsythia Foundation grant to Habitable (formerly Healthy Building Network) to support Beyond Benign and ChemFORWARD to develop a green chemistry curriculum that leverages from Habitable’s Pharos chemical hazards database combined with ChemFORWARD’s safer alternatives.
For Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) signers interested in short-term access to the ChemFORWARD platform for educational purposes, please contact educator@chemforward.org.
This module unit was reviewed by Julian Silverman (Ph.D.) and Sarah Prescott (Ph.D.).
The inspiration of this work began with a Forsythia Foundation grant to Habitable (formerly Healthy Building Network) to support Beyond Benign and ChemFORWARD to develop a green chemistry curriculum that leverages from Habitable’s Pharos chemical hazards database combined with ChemFORWARD’s safer alternatives.
For Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) signers interested in short-term access to the ChemFORWARD platform for educational purposes, please contact educator@chemforward.org.
Safety Precautions, Hazards, and Risk Assessment
Not applicable as this module could be used to replace a wet lab.
Teacher Recommendations or Piloting Data (if available)
Some notes from initial piloting of the module:
1. Students in an Environmental Toxicology (18) and an Inorganic Chemistry (18) course were given brief background information and then asked to work on one of the three assignments as homework. The assignments were divided between the student teams to balance, as much as possible, feedback on each assignment. Overall feedback was positive.
2. Students in a General Chemistry II (18) course were presented with selected slides and asked to complete the assignment on deodorants. This assignment was modified to include only 5 ingredients with hazard bands ranging from C to ?. Students worked in teams to complete the assignment during an open lab period. It took the teams about 20 minutes to complete the exercise.
1. Students in an Environmental Toxicology (18) and an Inorganic Chemistry (18) course were given brief background information and then asked to work on one of the three assignments as homework. The assignments were divided between the student teams to balance, as much as possible, feedback on each assignment. Overall feedback was positive.
2. Students in a General Chemistry II (18) course were presented with selected slides and asked to complete the assignment on deodorants. This assignment was modified to include only 5 ingredients with hazard bands ranging from C to ?. Students worked in teams to complete the assignment during an open lab period. It took the teams about 20 minutes to complete the exercise.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.59877/YFOG2801
Other notes/information
Please refer to the instructor's notes before using the module unit.
Any opinions, findings, and/or interpretations of data contained herein are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions, interpretations, or policies of ChemFORWARD, Habitable, or Beyond Benign. All ChemFORWARD chemical hazard assessments (CHAs) are the property of the assessor group that authored the CHA and shall not be utilized, duplicated, or shared for any commercial purpose without prior written authorization.
Any opinions, findings, and/or interpretations of data contained herein are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions, interpretations, or policies of ChemFORWARD, Habitable, or Beyond Benign. All ChemFORWARD chemical hazard assessments (CHAs) are the property of the assessor group that authored the CHA and shall not be utilized, duplicated, or shared for any commercial purpose without prior written authorization.
File (PDF, PPT, image, etc)
File (PDF, PPT, image, etc)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.