Models

The DTU USEtox Research Centre is actively involved in developing and advancing comprehensive tools to assess chemical fate, exposure, and toxicity at global and local scales, with the goal of developing methods that contribute to building scientific consensus.

USEtox Model

The UNEP-SETAC toxicity model (USEtox®) is a scientific consensus tool endorsed by UNEP's Life Cycle Initiative for characterizing the human and ecotoxicological impacts of chemicals. It provides official characterization factors and allows calculating custom factors at both midpoint and endpoint levels for assessing toxicological effects on humans and freshwater ecosystems resulting from chemical emissions in life cycle assessments.

Chemicals can adversely affect human health and ecosystems through diverse pathways, encompassing both near-field exposures, such as those occurring in indoor or occupational settings, and far-field emissions that disperse over larger geographic areas. These pathways include air, water, and soil transport, as well as bioaccumulation and degradation processes.

The USEtox® model characterizes the aggregated impacts of chemicals across this a diverse set of such impact pathways, integrating both direct emissions (e.g., industrial discharges, agricultural runoff) and emissions from various product types (e.g., chemicals released during product use or disposal). The model operates across four scales: indoor environments, urban areas, continental regions, and global systems. This comprehensive approach enables a detailed assessment of chemical fate, exposure, and toxicity.

The USEtox® model has been developed by a consortium of modelling experts under the auspices of UNEP and SETAC. Since its initial publication in 2008, the USEtox® model has been continuously updated and expanded to integrate the latest scientific advancements while maintaining its core principles of stability, parsimony, transparency, and reliability. DTU researchers have been strongly involved in shaping the USEtox® model, either as members of the USEtox® team or via the centre-related research projects.

References

Rosenbaum, R. K., Bachmann, T. M., Gold, L. S., Huijbregts, M. A. J., Jolliet, O., Juraske, R., Koehler, A., Larsen, H. F., MacLeod, M., Margni, M., McKone, T. E., Payet, J., Schuhmacher, M., van de Meent, D., & Hauschild, M. Z. (2008). USEtox - The UNEP-SETAC toxicity model: Recommended characterisation factors for human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity in life cycle impact assessment. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 13(7), 532–546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-008-0038-4

Hauschild, M. Z., Huijbregts, M., Jolliet, O., Macleod, M., Margni, M., van de Meent, D., Rosenbaum, R. K., & McKone, T. E. (2008). Building a model based on scientific consensus for life cycle impact assessment of chemicals: The search for harmony and parsimony. In Environmental Science and Technology (Vol. 42, Issue 19, pp. 7032–7037). https://doi.org/10.1021/es703145t

Kounina, A., Margni, M., Shaked, S., Bulle, C., & Jolliet, O. (2014). Spatial analysis of toxic emissions in LCA: A sub-continental nested USEtox model with freshwater archetypes. Environment International, 69, 67–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2014.04.004

Rosenbaum, R. K., Meijer, A., Demou, E., Hellweg, S., Jolliet, O., Lam, N. L., Margni, M., & McKone, T. E. (2015). Indoor Air Pollutant Exposure for Life Cycle Assessment: Regional Health Impact Factors for Households. Environmental Science and Technology, 49(21), 12823–12831. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00890

Fantke, P., Chiu, W. A., Aylward, L., Judson, R., Huang, L., Jang, S., Gouin, T., Rhomberg, L., Aurisano, N., McKone, T., & Jolliet, O. (2021). Exposure and toxicity characterization of chemical emissions and chemicals in products: global recommendations and implementation in USEtox. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 26(5), 899–915. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-021-01889-y

Owsianiak, M., Hauschild, M. Z., Posthuma, L., Saouter, E., Vijver, M. G., Backhaus, T., Douziech, M., Schlekat, T., & Fantke, P. (2023). Ecotoxicity characterization of chemicals: Global recommendations and implementation in USEtox. Chemosphere, 310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136807

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USEtoxGeo (Pangea)

USEtoxGeo is a versatile, multiscale spatial multimedia model currently in development at the DTU USEtox Research Centre. Designed to enable spatialized USEtox®-based fate and exposure assessments across local to global scales, it builds upon the Pangea model which was developed at the University of Michigan in collaboration with Unilever. Pangea employs multiscale spatial multimedia modeling, integrating elevation-based watersheds with the USEtox® and Impact2002 models.

Exposure studies, commonly used in human health risk and impact assessments of chemicals, are often conducted at local or regional scales. As a result, the comparative significance of global impacts arising from exposure to point source emissions remains largely unknown. 

USEtoxGeo addresses this challenge by providing a multiscale, spatial multimedia fate and exposure assessment framework built upon the modelling principles of the scientific consensus model USEtox®, enabling the integration of local, regional, and global impacts into a unified analysis. It leverages high-resolution spatial datasets (down to 10 km) and supports study-specific multiscale grids for comprehensive and customizable analyses. Its flexibility allows focusing on large numbers of point and diffuse sources, allowing for a better characterization of exposure to inform risk and impact assessments. 

USEtoxGeo is still under development and has not yet been evaluated for scientific consensus status under USEtox®.

References

Wannaz, C., Fantke, P., & Jolliet, O. (2018). Multiscale Spatial Modeling of Human Exposure from Local Sources to Global Intake. Environmental Science and Technology, 52(2), 701–711. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b05099

Wannaz, C., Franco, A., Kilgallon, J., Hodges, J., & Jolliet, O. (2018). A global framework to model spatial ecosystems exposure to home and personal care chemicals in Asia. Science of the Total Environment, 622–623, 410–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.315

Jolliet, O., Wannaz, C., Veltman, K., Kilgallon, J., Speirs, L., Franco, A., Lehner, B., Hodges, J. (2020). Spatial variability of ecosystem exposure to home and personal care chemicals in Asia. Environment International, 134, 105260 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105260 

 

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