Life Cycle Impact Assessment-Integrating Contemporary Exposure and Risk Assessment Principles, 1997 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Since the early 1990s, there has been a growing movement toward ecolabeling or environmental certification of products and processes. Indeed, this momentum continues today, and with the ultimate implementation of the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO’s) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework, the backdrop is set for a new world marketplace where the relative environmental impacts of a process or product will be required to be known before its widespread use. With much at stake, it is important that the forest products industry continue to recognize the transition from a society where environmental impacts were judged on a retrospective basis to the current paradigm of prospective environmental planning, assessment, and prevention. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), the second component of a traditional LCA, has historically relied upon rudimentary hazard screening protocols to assess or predict environmental impacts related to the life cycle of a product or process. While these “screening-level” hazard evaluations may have sufficed in the past, current experience and knowledge of quantitative exposure and risk assessment principles and practices suggests that the time has come to incorporate more contemporary tools into the LCIA framework to enhance the value, reliability, and the prospect of securing a favorable ecolabeling designation.