Integrate life-cycle assessment and risk analysis results, not methods
Linkov, I.; Trump, B.D.; Wender, B.A.; Seager, T.P.; Kennedy, A.J.; Keisler, J.M. (2017). Integrate life-cycle assessment and risk analysis results, not methods. Nature Nanotechnology 12(8): 740-743. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.152
In: Nature Nanotechnology. Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 1748-3387; e-ISSN 1748-3395, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Linkov, I.
- Trump, B.D.
- Wender, B.A.
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- Seager, T.P.
- Kennedy, A.J.
- Keisler, J.M.
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| Abstract |
Two analytic perspectives on environmental assessment dominate environmental policy and decision-making: risk analysis (RA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA). RA focuses on management of a toxicological hazard in a specific exposure scenario, while LCA seeks a holistic estimation of impacts of thousands of substances across multiple media, including non-toxicological and non-chemically deleterious effects. While recommendations to integrate the two approaches have remained a consistent feature of environmental scholarship for at least 15 years, the current perception is that progress is slow largely because of practical obstacles, such as a lack of data, rather than insurmountable theoretical difficulties. Nonetheless, the emergence of nanotechnology presents a serious challenge to both perspectives. Because the pace of nanomaterial innovation far outstrips acquisition of environmentally relevant data, it is now clear that a further integration of RA and LCA based on dataset completion will remain futile. In fact, the two approaches are suited for different purposes and answer different questions. A more pragmatic approach to providing better guidance to decision-makers is to apply the two methods in parallel, integrating only after obtaining separate results. |
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