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Chapter 3: Risk

This chapter of the Cleaner Technologies Substitutes Assessment (CTSA) addresses the health and environmental hazards, exposures, and risks that may result from using a making holes conductive (MHC) technology. The information presented here focuses entirely on MHC technologies. It does not, nor is it intended to, represent the full range of hazards or risks that could be associated with printed wiring board (PWB) manufacturing.

Section 3.1 identifies possible sources of environmental releases from MHC manufacturing and, in some cases, discusses the nature and quantity of those releases. Section 3.2 assesses occupational and general population (i.e., the public living near a PWB facility; fish in streams that receive wastewater from PWB facilities) exposures to MHC chemicals. This section quantitatively estimates inhalation and dermal exposure to workers and inhalation exposure to the public living near a PWB facility. Section 3.3 presents human health hazard and aquatic toxicity data for MHC chemicals. Section 3.4 characterizes the risks and concerns associated with the exposures estimated in Section 3.2. In all of these sections, the methodologies or models used to estimate releases, exposures, or risks are described along with the associated assumptions and uncertainties. In order to protect the identity of the proprietary chemicals, the chemical concentrations, exposures, and toxicological data for these chemicals are not given in the report. However, those proprietary chemicals that may present a potential risk to human health are identified by their generic chemical name in Section 3.4. Section 3.5 summarizes chemical safety hazards from material safety data sheets (MSDSs) for MHC chemical products and discusses process safety issues.

3.1 SOURCE RELEASE ASSESSMENT [576K PDF file]

3.2 EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT [198K PDF file]

3.3 HUMAN HEALTH AND ECOLOGICAL HAZARDS SUMMARY [196K PDF file]

3.4 RISK CHARACTERIZATION [125K PDF file]

3.5 PROCESS SAFETY ASSESSMENT & REFERENCES [89K PDF file]

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