What is safer chemistry?

Why safer chemistry matters for companies

Managing chemicals has become significantly more complex in recent years. Regulatory requirements are evolving, supply chains are increasingly global, and expectations around product safety and sustainability continue to grow. 

At the same time, many organizations lack clear visibility into the chemicals used in their products and processes. Information about chemical composition or hazard classifications may be incomplete, difficult to interpret, or scattered across suppliers and internal systems. 

This creates several practical challenges during product development and chemical management: 

• R&D teams must select chemicals that are safe, compliant, and future proof, often without full visibility into hazard traits or potential regulatory risks. 
• Innovation cycles can slow when unsuitable chemicals are discovered late in development, forcing reformulation or redesign. 
• Complex global supply chains make it difficult to understand which chemicals are actually present in products. 
• Restricted substance lists — and internal “no-go” lists that flag chemicals to avoid — are often created using incomplete information
• Companies face increasing expectations to understand chemical hazards during product use, particularly in consumer and industrial applications. 

Safer chemistry helps companies address these challenges by giving them greater visibility into the chemicals they rely on and the hazards those chemicals may carry. With better chemical intelligence and transparency, organizations can make more confident decisions about chemical selection, product design, and regulatory preparedness. 

Understanding chemical hazards

A central component of safer chemistry is understanding the hazard traits associated with individual chemicals.  

Hazard information helps companies evaluate the potential impacts of a substance. This insight supports more informed decisions during product design, chemical selection, and supply chain management. 

Some hazard traits receive particular attention because of their serious or long-term health effects. These include chemicals that may: 

• Cause cancer — carcinogenic substances are among the most closely regulated, with major global frameworks including IARC, GHS, and REACH used to classify and track them
• Damage genetic material — genotoxic or mutagenic substances
• Affect reproductive health or development — reproductive toxicants

Understanding these hazard traits is an important step in identifying chemicals that may require closer scrutiny, substitution, or management. 

Hazard classifications are widely used in chemical regulations and classification systems around the world. By understanding how chemicals are classified and what hazards they may present, companies can better evaluate potential risks and make more informed decisions about chemical use.

Examples of chemicals of concern

Understanding hazard traits is an important first step in safer chemistry, but companies also need to understand where chemicals of concern appear in real-world products and materials. 

Hazardous substances can be found across a wide range of industries and applications. In many cases these chemicals perform important technical functions — such as improving durability, stability, or water resistance — but may also raise concerns related to human health or environmental safety. 

For example, carcinogenic substances have been identified across several product categories, from materials used in electronic components to ingredients and impurities in cosmetics formulations, and dyes, finishes, and processing chemicals in textiles.

Other hazard properties are also important in safer chemistry initiatives. Substances may damage genetic material, a property known as genotoxicity, or affect reproductive health through reproductive toxicity. These hazard traits are commonly used in chemical classification frameworks and chemical risk assessments. 

Examining where these chemicals appear across industries helps companies better understand potential risks and identify opportunities to reduce hazardous substances in products. 

Chemical transparency across supply chains

Knowing the hazards associated with chemicals is only part of safer chemistry. Companies must also understand which chemicals are actually present in their products and materials. 

Achieving this level of chemical transparency can be challenging. Modern supply chains often involve multiple tiers of suppliers, manufacturers, and chemical formulations, making it difficult to gain full visibility into the substances used in components, materials, or production processes. 

Incomplete supplier disclosure can create significant knowledge gaps. Without reliable information about chemical composition, organizations may struggle to evaluate hazards, comply with regulations, or ensure products meet internal safety standards. 

To improve chemical transparency, many industries rely on tools such as restricted substances lists (RSLs) and manufacturing restricted substances lists (MRSLs). These frameworks help companies communicate which chemicals should not be used in finished products or manufacturing processes, supporting safer chemical management across supply chains. 

Supply chain transparency is particularly important in industries where complex global sourcing can make it difficult to track chemicals used in materials and manufacturing. The problem of toxic chemicals in fast fashion illustrates how difficult it can be to achieve full visibility across multi-tier supply chains — and why PFAS, for example, continue to appear in cosmetics despite growing regulatory pressure.

By improving visibility into chemicals used across supply chains, companies can better identify substances of concern and strengthen safer chemistry initiatives. 

Avoiding regrettable substitution

One of the key goals of safer chemistry is to prevent regrettable substitution — replacing one hazardous chemical with another substance that later proves to raise similar or even greater concerns. 

This can occur when companies focus only on removing a restricted or problematic chemical without fully understanding the hazards associated with potential alternatives. In these situations, substances may be replaced quickly to meet regulatory requirements or market expectations, only for the substitute chemical to later raise new health or environmental concerns. 

Regrettable substitution has occurred in several industries when widely used chemicals were removed from products and replaced with alternatives that were later found to have comparable hazard profiles. These situations can lead to additional reformulation efforts – and associated costs – regulatory scrutiny, and reputational risks. 

Safer chemistry helps reduce this risk by encouraging a deeper understanding of chemical hazards before alternatives are selected. Instead of reacting to individual chemical bans, companies evaluate substances more holistically. 

This may involve considering: 

• the full hazard profile of a substance 
• potential future regulatory developments 
• exposure scenarios during manufacturing or product use 
• the availability of safer alternatives 

By taking a proactive approach to chemical evaluation, companies can avoid replacing one problematic substance with another and support safer product design over time. 

How companies implement safer chemistry

Implementing safer chemistry requires organizations to improve visibility into the chemicals used across their products and processes. For many companies, the first step is developing a clearer understanding of chemical composition across materials, formulations, and supply chains. 

This often involves building chemical inventories, gathering information from suppliers, and reviewing safety data sheets or other documentation. These efforts help companies identify which substances are present and begin evaluating potential hazards. 

Many organizations also develop internal chemical management frameworks to guide decision-making. This may include a restricted substances list (RSLs) that identifies chemicals that should not be used in products or manufacturing processes. 

Hazard screening plays an important role as well. By reviewing the hazard traits associated with chemicals used in products or processes, companies can identify substances that may require closer evaluation, substitution, or risk management. 

Increasingly, companies are also using chemical intelligence tools to better understand chemical hazards, monitor regulatory developments, and support safer chemical decision-making across product development and supply chains. See how global brands are putting safer chemistry into practice. 

Implementing safer chemistry is often an evolving process. As organizations improve chemical transparency and deepen their understanding of hazards, they can make more informed decisions and design products that are safer for people and the environment.