Standard Guide for Assessing the Environmental and Human Health Impacts of New Compounds for Military Use

Importancia y uso:

5.1 The purpose of this guide is to provide a logical, tiered approach in the development of environmental health criteria coincident with level and effort in the research, development, testing, and evaluation of new materials for military use. Various levels of uncertainty are associated with data collected from previous stages. Following the recommendation in the guide should reduce the relative uncertainty of the data collected at each developmental stage. At each stage, a general weight of evidence qualifier shall accompany each exposure/effect relationship. They may be simple (for example, low, medium, or high confidence) or sophisticated using a numerical value for each predictor as a multiplier to ascertain relative confidence in each step of risk characterization. The specific method used will depend on the stage of development, quantity and availability of data, variation in the measurement, and general knowledge of the dataset. Since specific formulations, conditions, and use scenarios may not be known until the later stages, exposure estimates can be determined when practical (for example, Engineering and Manufacturing Development; see 6.6). Exposure data can then be used with other toxicological data collected from previous stages in a quantitative risk assessment to determine the relative degree of hazard.

5.2 Data developed from the use of this guide are designed to be consistent with criteria required in weapons and weapons system development (for example, programmatic environment, safety and occupational health evaluations, environmental assessments/environmental impact statements, toxicity clearances, and technical data sheets).

5.3 Information shall be evaluated in a flexible manner consistent with the needs of the authorizing program. This requires proper characterization of the current problem. For example, compounds may be ranked relative to the environmental criteria of the prospective alternatives, the replacement compound, and within bounds of absolute environmental values. A weight of evidence (evaluation of uncertainty and variability) must also be considered with each criterion at each stage to allow for a proper assessment of the potential for adverse environmental or occupational effects; see 6.8.

5.4 This standard approach requires environment, safety, and occupational health (ESOH) technical experts to determine the magnitude of the hazard and system engineers/researchers to evaluate the acceptability of the risk. Generally, the higher developmental stages require a higher managerial level of approval.

Subcomité:

E50.47

Volúmen:

11.09

Número ICS:

95.020 (Military engineering. Military affairs. Weapons)

Palabras clave:

effects; energetics; environment; fate; health; life cycle;