Miljö- och hälsofarliga kemiska produkter i Landstinget Blekinge - en kartläggning
(2011) MVEM12 20102Studies in Environmental Science
- Abstract
- Chemicals are developed and produced in order to meet the desired features of various chemical products. Chemical substances can sometimes cause adverse health or environmental effects when humans and the environment are exposed to them. Landstinget Blekinge (the county council of Blekinge) uses large amounts of chemical products annually. Products such as cleaning products, hygiene products, dental products, laboratory chemicals and products for maintaining facilities are being used. The chemical products are used in all areas of the organization. One can imagine that some of these products contain substances that can cause negative effects on human health and the environment. I therefore ask: are any of the products used by Landstinget... (More)
- Chemicals are developed and produced in order to meet the desired features of various chemical products. Chemical substances can sometimes cause adverse health or environmental effects when humans and the environment are exposed to them. Landstinget Blekinge (the county council of Blekinge) uses large amounts of chemical products annually. Products such as cleaning products, hygiene products, dental products, laboratory chemicals and products for maintaining facilities are being used. The chemical products are used in all areas of the organization. One can imagine that some of these products contain substances that can cause negative effects on human health and the environment. I therefore ask: are any of the products used by Landstinget Blekinge hazardous to human health and the environment? And are there any substances that are so dangerous that they should be avoided?
This survey has been carried out in order to ascertain whether any of the products used by Landstinget Blekinge are harmful to human health and the environment. The survey includes substances that are carcinogenic, teratogenic, endocrine disruptors and substances that can damage the ozone layer. It also includes substances that can cause reproductive failure, cause heritable genetic damage and cause harm to breastfed babies. Furthermore it includes substances that are toxic to aquatic organisms and substances which may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.
287 substances that are harmful to human health and the environment are being used by Landstinget Blekinge. The hazardous substances are present in more than 500 chemical products. This means that about a quarter of all chemical products used by Landstinget Blekinge contain one or several substances that are carcinogenic, teratogenic, toxic to aquatic organisms or otherwise pose threat to human health and the environment. About one third (102 of 287) of the substances are classified as particularly dangerous. These substances are so hazardous that they should be avoided if possible.
So, do we need to be concerned that the hazardous substances provided in this survey will cause harm to the environment or the staff of Landstinget Blekinge? Unfortunately, I cannot answer no to that question at present. This survey has only studied the hazardous characteristics of substances. In order to assess the risk that a substance will cause harm to people or the environment, we must take into consideration how the chemical product is handled. In many cases, the risk of injury can be decreased to an acceptable level when harmful substances are being handled in a proper manner. To investigate whether products with hazardous substances are managed correctly, I recommend Landstinget Blekinge to perform a risk analysis for each product containing one or several hazardous chemical substances. If there is a high risk of damage to people or the environment, I recommend Landstinget Blekinge to replace such products with products less hazardous. If it is not possible to replace or completely stop using hazardous products, Landstinget Blekinge should aim to reduce their usage. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/2366246
- author
- Tuorda, Chatrin LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MVEM12 20102
- year
- 2011
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 2366246
- date added to LUP
- 2012-02-29 14:16:27
- date last changed
- 2012-02-29 14:16:27
@misc{2366246,
abstract = {{Chemicals are developed and produced in order to meet the desired features of various chemical products. Chemical substances can sometimes cause adverse health or environmental effects when humans and the environment are exposed to them. Landstinget Blekinge (the county council of Blekinge) uses large amounts of chemical products annually. Products such as cleaning products, hygiene products, dental products, laboratory chemicals and products for maintaining facilities are being used. The chemical products are used in all areas of the organization. One can imagine that some of these products contain substances that can cause negative effects on human health and the environment. I therefore ask: are any of the products used by Landstinget Blekinge hazardous to human health and the environment? And are there any substances that are so dangerous that they should be avoided?
This survey has been carried out in order to ascertain whether any of the products used by Landstinget Blekinge are harmful to human health and the environment. The survey includes substances that are carcinogenic, teratogenic, endocrine disruptors and substances that can damage the ozone layer. It also includes substances that can cause reproductive failure, cause heritable genetic damage and cause harm to breastfed babies. Furthermore it includes substances that are toxic to aquatic organisms and substances which may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.
287 substances that are harmful to human health and the environment are being used by Landstinget Blekinge. The hazardous substances are present in more than 500 chemical products. This means that about a quarter of all chemical products used by Landstinget Blekinge contain one or several substances that are carcinogenic, teratogenic, toxic to aquatic organisms or otherwise pose threat to human health and the environment. About one third (102 of 287) of the substances are classified as particularly dangerous. These substances are so hazardous that they should be avoided if possible.
So, do we need to be concerned that the hazardous substances provided in this survey will cause harm to the environment or the staff of Landstinget Blekinge? Unfortunately, I cannot answer no to that question at present. This survey has only studied the hazardous characteristics of substances. In order to assess the risk that a substance will cause harm to people or the environment, we must take into consideration how the chemical product is handled. In many cases, the risk of injury can be decreased to an acceptable level when harmful substances are being handled in a proper manner. To investigate whether products with hazardous substances are managed correctly, I recommend Landstinget Blekinge to perform a risk analysis for each product containing one or several hazardous chemical substances. If there is a high risk of damage to people or the environment, I recommend Landstinget Blekinge to replace such products with products less hazardous. If it is not possible to replace or completely stop using hazardous products, Landstinget Blekinge should aim to reduce their usage.}},
author = {{Tuorda, Chatrin}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Miljö- och hälsofarliga kemiska produkter i Landstinget Blekinge - en kartläggning}},
year = {{2011}},
}