Human toxicity potentials for life-cycle assessment and toxics release inventory risk screening.

The human toxicity potential (HTP), a calculated index that reflects the potential harm of a unit of chemical released into the environment, is based on both the inherent toxicity of a compound and its potential dose. It is used to weight emissions inventoried as part of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) or in the toxics release inventory (TRI) and to aggregate emissions in terms of a reference compound. Total emissions can be evaluated in terms of benzene equivalence (carcinogens) and toluene equivalents (noncarcinogens). The potential dose is calculated using a generic fate and exposure model, CalTOX, which determines the distribution of a chemical in a model environment and accounts for a number of exposure routes, including inhalation, ingestion of produce, fish, and meat, and dermal contact with water and soil. Toxicity is represented by the cancer potency q1* for carcinogens and the safe dose (RfD, RfC) for noncarcinogens. This article presents cancer and noncancer HTP values for air and surface-water emissions of 330 compounds. This list covers 258 chemicals listed in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency TRI, or 79 weight-% of the TRI releases to air reported in 1997.