substitution-who.docVIP

?Substitution and Alternatives” Prepared by IFCS Forum VI drafting group Thought Starter (180108) Background Substitution of dangerous chemicals has been one of the major tools for the protection of the environment and human health. Substitution is a preferred risk reduction strategy since the beginning of environmental policy, of public health strategies and of workers’ protection legislation. It is also the preferred mean to avoid risks posed by chemical agents to the health and safety of workers. To replace harmful substances and processes with less harmful ones or with non-chemical alternatives, can be a very effective strategy of risk reduction. Additionally, substitution of dangerous with less dangerous chemicals is seen as an ideal way to overcome the unavoidable deficits of control and regulation. As a strategy of risk reduction substitution means implementing solutions that prevent human and environmental exposure to certain chemical hazards while still achieving the intended technical purpose. In other words: substitution is not a goal on its own - but the search for better solutions aims not only at optimizing product- and cost efficiency but also at minimizing risks for human health and the environment. Moreover in most cases of chemicals management there are several paths for achieving a specific goal offering the possibility to choose among various alternatives according to specific criteria. In a nutshell, substitution is the proverbial “better being the enemy of the good” – Voltaire’s Le mieux est lennemi du bien – applied to chemicals management. The context in which Forum VI will be tackling substitution thus is a broad one involving comparisons and judgments at the level of single substances, industrial processes and technologies but also at the level of business models, which could be either product- or service-oriented. Non-chemical alternatives do not necessarily request all that comparisons and judgments at these different lev