Some toxnot users are making a choice for themselves and others are making a choice for lots of people using a product they are designing or formulating. Toxnot provides all users with an easy interface to search for the health hazards of chemicals.
Toxnot is not a list of "bad chemicals", it is an open and transparent platform to show users the good, bad or unknown health results associated with the chemicals they are interested in.
Toxnot serves a wide variety of users based on the simple fact that there's not a person on earth that doesn't interact with thousands of natural and man-made chemicals on a daily basis.
While we aim to be extremely open about the chemical hazard data, we provide we are primarily targeting users who are trying to make specific decisions. If you are looking for simple validation that a chemical or substance is good or bad you might find some information here, but that's not really what we hope you do.
We want you to use the site to make realistic comparisons. Whether you are formulating shampoo, picking paint or selecting a plastic for the next awesome product we want you to understand what's known about each of your choices, support filling in gaps in the hazard data through upvoting and funding substances and then pick a preferred alternative.
While most companies have clear plans for currently regulated substances, reviewing hazard profiles is a great way to estimate the direction of future regulation (they should be related after all).
In cases where risks are clearly identified the comparison and sharing features on our site can be used to show internal and external team members why it makes sense to proactively move towards a preferred substance or away from a problematic one.
Designers are constantly approached with new green alternatives but often lack a decision making framework to review them. Toxnot helps designers make decisions with confidence that they're not trading the devil they know for the one they don't.
We provide a way to see the hazard profile of the existing substances in products as a comparative baseline. This provides a way to get new materials evaluated while both lowering the cost to an individual design team and without going through the process of vetting and hiring a consulting services firm.
Suppliers using an independent hazard assessment methodology gives their customers confidence in their claims about being preferable. It also allows them to share the cost of assessing their substances with other parties in the supply chain who benefit from the information and third party transparency.
NGOs can support the entire supply chain by helping to fund hazard assessments in a format that businesses can use. They can also use the widely agreed upon methodology behind Toxnot hazard profiles to have more productive conversations with companies about purchasing standards and priorities.
If you made it this far just hop on over to toxnot.com and log in, it's free to use and we'd love to know what you think!