Chemical Assess

The Chemical Assess module in SciveraLENS is designed to help you quickly and more confidently assess your chemicals of interest against lists of interest and understand each chemical’s chemical hazards and impacts. Conducted, managed, and maintained by our team of Toxicologists, these assessments can help you identify problematic substances, prioritize them for improvement or phase out, and identify safer alternatives to support your sustainable chemistry initiatives.  

Here are some key features to help you with this important work. Please make sure to familiarize yourself with the Assessment results in SciveraLENS and how to interpret them.   

Look Up CAS RNs

Quickly look up chemicals of interest and view the available assessment information for each.

To get started, click on the “+” button next to your Assess menu item or click on “Look up CAS RNs.”

Start typing in a CAS RN or common name for your chemical of interest. You’ll notice a drop-down appear as you start typing, showing you the available CAS RNs in our system. Once you select “Lookup”, SciveraLENS will provide you with an instant summary of our assessment results for your chemical of interest.

We provide the same Detailed view for our standard assessment results in SciveraLENS. When you use the Look Up CAS RNs feature, you’ll see the assessment results for the individual CAS RN you have entered.

You’ll see a column for:

• CAS RN – this shows the CAS RN you entered for assessment
• Common Name – this is the common name for the chemical entered (check out our Chemical Names feature where you can create other reference names for your chemicals of interest – LINK)
• List – This column shows you an at-a-glance view of the list screening results for your CAS RN. By default, we screen your chemicals against all lists available in our system so you can get a full picture of the information we have available on your chemical of interest. Using the dropdown next to the List column, you can choose to screen your chemical against all lists, your Favorite lists, or your Account Favorite lists (here’s a quick refresher on selecting your Favorite lists (LINK to Lists article on selecting favorites)). The color of the triangle will indicate the worst or the highest risk type of list the chemical appears on based on what was selected for screening. Underneath the table is a roster of each list on which the chemical appears. View how many lists out of the total number selected your CAS RN appears on. You can also click the prompt to view which lists were selected for screening. Please note that because you’re not including concentrations in this screening, you will not see threshold limits included with your list screening results. (Need a refresher on the colors, types of lists, or what they mean? Check out this article – LINK). You can also click on the list triangle to view additional details about the list your chemical appears on.
• HC – HC is our Hazard Category or summary score for each chemical, showing an overall hazard assessment for the chemical based on the 23 endpoints evaluated. This ranges from low to high hazard and is based on an algorithm like EPA Safer Choice and other hazard assessment methodologies. To calculate this summary score, our team uses Core Endpoints (CMRD/PBT) and Supplemental Endpoints (all the rest) to summarize 23 human environmental health characteristics into a simple colored light and action. (Need a refresher on our HC scoring? Check out this article – LINK)
• V – V is for Verified. If you see a checkmark “✓” in this column, it means our Toxicology team has completed the CHA’s full QA/QC process. (Need a more detailed understanding of Verified? Check out this article – LINK)
• Each Endpoint – C, M, R, D, EA, atd, ato, ati, st, n, ds, rd, di, ei, ap, si, P, B, AAT, CAT, Mo, etp, r, f – these are the individual Endpoint assessments for the chemical. The colored traffic lights underneath summarize the assessment score for each endpoint. Don’t forget to click on each to view the supporting data our toxicology team used for their assessment.

Add to Groups: on the right side of your screen, next to the detailed table of assessments, you’ll see a button “Add to Groups”. From this page, you can add your chemical of interest to a CAS RN Group for future viewing and easy filtering/grouping. We’ll talk more about Groups down below.

Also, in your left-hand navigation menu, you’ll see the following: 

Add to CAS RN Library

When you need to add multiple CAS RNs to your SciveraLENS account, “Add to CAS RN Library” will be the most efficient way to start.

You can add CAS RNs through a CSV Upload (make sure to use the template on the page to set up your CSV) or Text (type them in or copy and paste). Once you have added your CAS RNs, click “Add to Library”.

You’ll be taken to a detailed view of your assessment results for each CAS RN added. Review, filter, and sort your results on this page.
Click on each list triangle to view the specific list hits for each CAS RN. Like with CAS RN Look Up, you can click on each endpoint to view our team’s supporting data for the assessment. If you would like, you can save the CAS RNs you added to a Group by selecting “Add to Group”. You can create a new Group or add to an existing Group. You can always view and manage any CAS RN Groups after they have been added.

CAS RN Library

When you look up or add any CAS RNs to SciveraLENS, they will be added to your CAS RN Library.

The CAS RN Library lists the unique chemicals you have entered into SciveraLENS. For each, you’ll see a summary list screening assessment against all lists managed in our system and those you marked as Favorites, the Hazard Category (HC) score, and frequency of use across your Formulations and any saved Chemical Groups. Clicking on each CAS RN will show a detailed assessment view for the CAS RN. You can search through your Chemicals Library using the filter option or sort by column and save chemicals into groups for viewing.
If you are part of an account, you can toggle between your individually added CAS RNs and those added by other members of your account by clicking on the toggle at the top right of the page.

CAS RN Groups

We know how helpful it can be to organize your CAS RNs so you can easily prioritize, filter, compare, and more. This is why we created the CAS RN Group function.

Create Groups based on whatever criteria you need, whether an inventory for a certain supplier, CAS RNs you’re considering as potential alternatives, or an inventory of CAS RNs in use for a particular product line or season. The list of possibilities is endless! You can create CAS RN Groups in several ways:

• When you’re adding CAS RNs through the Look Up CAS RNs tool
• When you’re adding a list of CAS RNs through the Add to CAS RN Library tool
• Directly from the CAS RN Library
• or through the CAS RN Group menu

You can also manage any CAS RN Groups you have created over time. Add CAS RNs or remove them from a group, rename your group, filter your results within a group, or make a sub-group from another group.
With the CAS RN Groups menu, we have provided a filter (upper right corner in the screenshot below) where you can sort through your Groups and the chemicals included by Name, CAS RN, date added, list screening result, particular hazard assessment result or endpoint score, and more.

If you are part of an account, you can toggle between your individually created Groups and those created by other members of your account by clicking on the toggle at the top right of the page.

Formulations

In addition to adding CAS RNs to your SciveraLENS account using the methods above, you can also use the tool to create or enter Formulations and view the related assessment results. Depending on your subscription type, you’ll see two options under Formulations:

1. All Formulations
2. SDS Upload

Formulations differ from the CAS RN look-up functions included under Assess, as the goal is to help you build a recipe or Formulation for a product and view the assessment results for each CAS RN included. With Formulations, you can enter additional information (like concentration) for your CAS RNs, combine Formulations, and more.

SDS upload

allows you to import a (text-based) PDF file of a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) into your SciveraLENS account. Many suppliers will initially only be able (or willing) to communicate their product chemicals via the Safety Data Sheet. Often, the data in an SDS will not represent a complete Formulation but can give you the initial information needed for review. To start, click on SDS Upload and select the SDS you want to upload. Upon upload, SciveraLENS will take the product name and chemical ingredient information from your SDS and create a new Formulation using that information. You will then be asked to review this data for accuracy and completeness before assigning lists for screening. Once you confirm the information included in your SDS and submit it, you can review the assessment results we have for each CAS RN entered.
Remember that we only provide assessment results for the CAS RNs included in the SDS. We do not include additional assessments on unknown or undisclosed chemicals or based on the H-codes included in the SDS.
Once added, each upload will be saved as a Formulation in your All Formulations menu. From the All Formulations menu, you can view, edit, and manage your upload and the assessment results for each.

All Formulations

– here, you can create new, view, and manage existing Formulations. If you are part of an account, you can toggle between your individually added Formulations and those added by other members of your account by clicking on the toggle at the top right of the page.
To create a new Formulation, you can start by clicking the “+” in your left-hand navigation bar or by clicking All Formulations and then selecting the “+” at the top right of the Formulations page.
There are several different ways to create formulations depending on how you would like to enter your chemical information:

You can click on any of the “?” icons to learn more about each Formulation creation type.

Each of the first three Formulation creation methods will walk you through a 5-step data entry process. Regardless of the tool you choose, you will be asked to:

1. Enter basic information about the Formulation, including a unique Formulation name and optional supporting details.
2. Enter your chemical ingredient information by CAS RN and their concentrations.
3. (Optional) Link other Formulations or generate a request for data (depending on your subscription access).
4. (Optional) Attach supporting documentation like SDS, TDS, lab reports, polymer forms, etc., in this optional step.
5. (Optional) Choose from hundreds of our managed lists and sublists against which you want to screen your chemicals. Check out our tip on marking favorite lists for easier selection (LINK).

The fourth Formulation creation method, Formulation Assembler, allows you to create a Formulation by combining Formulations or requesting data rather than starting by entering CAS RNs. Use this method if you would like to request information from a supplier or import assessment results from a received Formulation.
Which formulation creation method to choose mainly depends on the format your data is in, and we’ve provided some detailed guidance below on which formulation creation method to choose.

Quick Formulation – Enter a Formulation name and then, using the text box, input your chemicals and concentrations. Enter one CAS RN per line by typing them in directly or copying and pasting. When entering a concentration, add a comma after each CAS RN and then enter your concentration (e.g. 234-56-7, 0.4). All concentrations in SciveraLENS should be entered as a decimal (e.g. 80% would be entered as 0.80, 5% would be entered as 0.05). You can always check that you entered your concentrations correctly when reviewing your Formulation Detail and assessment results.
Attach supporting documents if needed or desired, and then assign the lists (if any) you’d like to track against this new Formulation. (Don’t forget, you can set your Favorites lists from the Lists menu to make list selection a bit easier).

BOS Builder is a step-by-step web form for entering your Formulation into SciveraLENS. (BOS stands for “Bill of Substances,” a common data document used to communicate a product’s chemicals, materials, and components.) You can use BOS Builder to create a new Formulation in 5 easy steps.

1. Name your new Formulation and add any basic information
2. Add your chemicals of interest
3. Include other Formulations from those you have already created or those received from others
4. Attach supporting document
5. Assign the lists (if any) you’d like to track against this new Formulation

Just like with Quick Formulation, you’ll need to enter your concentrations as a decimal (e.g. 80% would be entered as 0.80, 5% would be entered as 0.05). You can always check that you entered your concentrations correctly when reviewing your Formulation Detail and assessment results. The BOS Builder tool is our recommended formulation builder option when completing a request for certifications like Screened Chemistry, as there are additional fields available in BOS Builder that are required for certain programs.

Upload BOS

allows you to upload a spreadsheet file of your chemical data into SciveraLENS using a basic format. We have created a template to make this process easy to use. Many users copy and paste content from a .csv file or spreadsheet into a Quick Formulation so they don’t have to format it according to the template.

Formulation Assembler

allows you to link formulations you have already created rather than enter the information from scratch.
While the goal of Formulations is to help you evaluate 100% of ingredients, this is not a requirement for data entry.
If you don’t have a CAS RN for your chemical because you are sourcing the chemical from a sub-supplier and don’t have that information, you can leverage SciveraLENS Supply Chain Connect to request ingredient information from others while still protecting their proprietary data.

If you don’t have a CAS RN for a polymer, check out the steps for assessing a polymer in SciveraLENS.