Quantity-based and toxicity-based evaluation of the U.S. Toxics Release Inventory.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Toxicology
• Risk Assessment

Background:

• The U.S. EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) provides extensive data on chemical releases.
• Current TRI analysis is quantity-based and does not account for relative chemical toxicity.
• This limitation can lead to an incomplete understanding of environmental and human health hazards.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the utility of TRI data for environmental management and policy.
• To couple TRI quantity data with chemical toxicity potentials for a more robust evaluation.
• To identify priority toxic chemicals and sectors based on both quantity and toxicity.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 2007 TRI data at chemical, industry sector, and state levels.
• Integration of TRI quantity data with toxicity potentials from EPA's TRACI (Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental Impacts) characterization factors.
• Comparison of quantity-based versus toxicity-informed evaluation methods.

Main Results:

• Toxicity-based evaluation identified high-priority chemicals missed by quantity-based analysis alone.
• Combining quantity and toxicity provides a more comprehensive assessment of chemical risks.
• Discrepancies between methods diminished when data was aggregated at state and industry sector levels.

Conclusions:

• Integrating TRI quantity data with toxicity potentials significantly improves the identification of environmental priorities.
• This combined approach offers a more robust framework for guiding environmental policy and management decisions.
• The findings highlight the importance of considering chemical hazard beyond release volume.