Green Toxicology: Connecting Green Chemistry and Modern Toxicology

A major thrust in the concept of green chemistry is to eliminate the production of hazardous materials. Thus, sustainable toxicity testing is required for its successful implementation. Here, we present the principles of green toxicology, a concept less well known than green chemistry, but indispensable for the sustainable development of chemical products. Green toxicology entails early testing through non-animal methods, such as novel in vitro and in silico technologies in toxicity prediction, to obtain benign products in benign processes with reduced exposure. The future of non-testing toxicity prediction entails both an improved creation, management, and use of big data to optimize chemical space coverage and an increased mechanistic and biological pathway understanding which can be integrated in prediction tools. This perspective provides an introduction to chemists and toxicologists to the combined idea of green toxicology, rather than providing a comprehensive overview. Specifically, we (1) provide a brief overview of recently emerging technologies, (2) highlight the importance of collaboration between researchers to implement and integrate green toxicology in the chemical industry, and (3) present challenges that come along with the emerging technologies and propose possibilities for their better application and wider use in the future.