Connecting toxicology and chemistry to ensure safer chemical design

Abstract

Designing safer, healthier and sustainable products and processes requires the engagement of toxicologists and the incorporation of twenty-first century toxicology principles and practices. As the demand for safer products increases, scientists must incorporate toxicology as early as possible as part of a comprehensive design strategy to minimize or eliminate toxicity prior to product development. Hazard reduction through molecular design benefits from trans-disciplinary collaboration among chemists, toxicologists and environmental scientists, and must be initiated at the design stage of chemicals synthesis. The path forward requires a sustained multi-pronged commitment to embedding the principles of toxicology into the chemistry curriculum, developing a framework that articulates maxims for sustainable design, promoting research collaboration among allied professional scientists and supporting education and outreach efforts at every opportunity, to technical and non-technical audiences, that highlight the natural nexus between toxicology and chemistry.