ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents existing programs that have resulted in requirements for reporting product composition. It lays out the history of toxic chemical release reporting, presenting national data on US toxic chemical release for 2007, the most recent year that data were available at the time. The book presents information on these pollutant release and transfer register programs. It utilizes available oral and inhalation cancer and noncancer measures of toxicity to develop a method for the relative ranking of toxicity (toxicity factor) for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals. The book considers the use of solubility and vapor pressure data to develop a mobility factor, to be integrated into the toxicity factor for each TRI chemical. It reviews programs that concentrate on reducing the release of chemicals with the greatest adverse toxic impact.
