Behind the scenes with a toxicologist: Uncovering hidden chemical hazards

Every day, companies unknowingly incorporate hazardous chemicals into their products. While some may be harmless, others present hidden dangers.  

As a toxicologist at Enhesa Sustainable Chemistry, my job is to help companies recognize and minimize these hazards by enhancing the toxicological data we provide through our solutions.  

When companies achieve confidential full formulation disclosure, they can navigate chemical safety and regulatory compliance, ensure their products and processes are safe for their employees, consumers, and the environment — and meet their critical goals.  

Here’s a closer look at the role of a toxicologist in helping companies with these challenges. 

3 chemical disclosure challenges

1. Impurities

One of the most significant challenges for companies is that chemicals commonly used in their industry may, in fact, have impurities that turn them into chemicals of concern. For example:  

• Polymers like polysiloxanes might need disclosures for methanol, and the three chemicals colloquially known as D4 D5 D6: octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, decamethylcyclopentasiloxane, and dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane 

• Enzymes often include salts and preservatives that need to be disclosed  

• Ethoxylated alcohols would need disclosures of ethylene oxide and 1,4 dioxane  

Although the CAS RN for these substances may be a low or medium hazard, their impurities may not be – information that’s not commonly disclosed in documents such as SDSs. Businesses often underestimate the presence of such impurities or don’t fully understand why they need to be disclosed. This can lead to compliance risks and potential safety concerns.  

2. Specialized CAS RNs

These are disclosures that also require special attention. Certain chemicals are deemed hazardous due to several or many toxicological endpoints. They’ll be toxic via one route of exposure, but not necessarily any other route.  

An example of this chemical is ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is toxic via the oral route of exposure. However, it’s not considered a high hazard when exposed to any other route of exposure such as dermal and inhalation. In this case, if ethylene oxide is used in an application where there is no oral exposure, the chemical will be deemed medium or low hazard.  

Detergents, fabric softeners, and anti-pilling agents, used in textiles, are an example of this. In such cases, for a chemical supplier to comply with certain regulations, a specialized identification number is assigned to their ethylene oxide for this use. Users of the platform will input a specialist ID number instead of a CAS RN to review the toxicological data.  

3. Obtaining supplier information

Another challenge that makes certain disclosures complex is when companies need to obtain information from sub-suppliers.  

Sub-suppliers don’t wish to disclose formulation details due to confidentiality concerns, plus they often have complex formulations, like those with polymers and enzymes, that may contain additional impurities.  

To address this at Enhesa Sustainable Chemistry, we use Supply Chain Connect, which is a secure tool built into SciveraLENS to allow complete confidential disclosures of all chemicals. Chemical names, CAS RNs, and SVIDs are redacted by default. When formulations are shared, only the toxicological data (the information on endpoints) is visible. This allows users to see compliance for certain formulations without risking anyone’s ‘secret recipe’.  

The SciveraLENS platform currently has over 5,000 chemicals with verified hazard assessments. The team I’m in works daily to expand the database. In 2024, we added 140 CHAs to the database, including additional impacts in tert-dodecanethiol, typically used as a chemical intermediate.