Consumers often see various “free-of” statements on labels that imply that the product is safer and more sustainable than others without such a label. The problem with these types of labels is that they say nothing about the ingredients a product is made with. Hazard assessment tools such as GreenScreen provide a way to determine whether potential product ingredients have sufficient data and low hazard to support their long-term use. Third party certifications and “positive” lists such as EPA SaferChoice and CleanGredients also may be useful in selecting the right materials. Use of these types of tools and methodologies allow formulators and processors, as well as retailers and consumer product makers, to make informed and responsible substitution decisions and to reduce the risk of future regulatory or customer restrictions. Examples of the use of GreenScreen and CleanGredients to evaluate plasticizers that are alternatives to widely used ortho-phthalates are presented. Some alternative plasticizers have sufficient data and low hazard to support their use in consumer and other products. Others might be accurately labeled as “phthalate-free” and might be safe for their intended uses, but insufficient data are available to support their use as alternatives to data-rich ortho-phthalates. Products such as DOTP and D9CH can be shown to be both well-studied and free of relevant hazard concerns.

中文翻译：

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绿色化学与新型增塑剂的寻找

消费者通常会在标签上看到各种“免费”声明，这表明该产品比没有此类标签的其他产品更安全，更可持续。这些类型的标签的问题在于，它们对产品所用的成分一无所知。诸如GreenScreen之类的危害评估工具提供了一种确定潜在产品成分是否具有足够数据和低危害性以支持其长期使用的方法。第三方认证和“肯定”列表（例如EPA SaferChoice和CleanGredients）在选择正确的材料时也可能很有用。通过使用这些类型的工具和方法，配制者和加工者以及零售商和消费产品制造商可以做出明智和负责任的替代决定，并降低将来受到法规或客户限制的风险。提供了使用GreenScreen和CleanGredients评估增塑剂的实例，这些增塑剂是广泛使用的邻苯二甲酸酯的替代品。一些替代增塑剂具有足够的数据和较低的危害性，可支持在消费类产品和其他产品中使用。其他一些可能被准确地标记为“不含邻苯二甲酸酯”，并且对于其预期用途可能是安全的，但是没有足够的数据来支持将其用作富含数据的邻苯二甲酸酯的替代品。可以证明，诸如DOTP和D9CH之类的产品经过了精心研究，并且没有相关的危害隐患。其他一些可能被准确地标记为“不含邻苯二甲酸酯”，并且对于其预期用途可能是安全的，但是没有足够的数据来支持将其用作富含数据的邻苯二甲酸酯的替代品。可以证明，诸如DOTP和D9CH之类的产品都经过了精心研究，并且没有相关的危害隐患。其他一些可能被准确地标记为“不含邻苯二甲酸酯”，并且对于其预期用途可能是安全的，但是没有足够的数据来支持将其用作富含数据的邻苯二甲酸酯的替代品。可以证明，诸如DOTP和D9CH之类的产品都经过了精心研究，并且没有相关的危害隐患。