Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
Health Impacts of Chemicals in Consumer Products
What You'll Learn
- Assess impacts and risks of chemicals and evaluate chemical exposure
- Address chemical concerns in various product categories
- Apply these skills to personal care, cleaning, building products, and toys
3 Modules
18 Hours
6 hrs per module (approx.)
Rating
About Health Impacts of Chemicals in Consumer Products
This course focuses on assessing health impacts of chemicals in products and of fine particulate emitted along the product life cycle. We first develop the assessment framework to assess exposure and health impacts of chemicals in products. We then detail the application of mass-balance approaches to the case of parabens in personal care products. Participants then learn to assess the human health impacts of chemicals in products using the USEtox model (UN-Environment toxicity model) and discuss the level of protection offered by existing regulations about chemicals in products contrasting US and Europe. We extend the assessment to risks and impacts 5000+ chemical-household product combinations identifying the products and chemicals of concern in e.g. home maintenance and personal care products and looking at children as a sensitive population and at the magnitude of the risks associated with exposures to chemicals in toys. We also introduce a Life Cycle-based approach to Chemical Alternatives Assessment (CAA) combining both quantified exposure and hazards and discuss the applicability domain of CAA compared to Risk Assessment (RA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). We finally determine exposure to and effect of fine particulates on human health along the product and chemical supply chain and life cycle. This course concludes the course series by providing cutting-edge progress on the overall exposome and compares the health impacts of multiple environmental exposures on health.
Skills You'll Gain
- Environmental Health Management
- Health Impact Assessments
- Population Health
What You'll Earn
- Certificate of Completion:
- Certificates of completion acknowledge knowledge acquired upon completion of a non-credit course or program.
Welcome Message
Health Impacts of Chemicals in Consumer Products examines how everyday chemicals affect human health and ecosystems. In this course, part of the Healthy and Sustainable Foods and Products series, learners explore exposure pathways, risk assessment tools, and alternatives analysis to evaluate chemicals in personal care, household, and consumer products. The course emphasizes evidence-based decision-making to reduce harmful health and environmental impacts.
This abbreviated syllabus description was created with the help of AI tools and reviewed by staff. The full syllabus is available to those who enroll in the course.
Course Schedule
Module 1: Chemicals in Products
- Video: Meet Your Instructors
- Video: Welcome to the Course
- Reading: Syllabus
- Reading: Pre-Course Survey
- Reading: Week 1 Slides
- Video: Assessment Framework - Part A Importance of exposure
- Video: Assessment Framework - Part B Needs and assessment framework
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge check 1 - Chemical assessment framework
- Video: Which method for which problem? When to use Risk Assessment (RA), Chemical Alternatives Assessment (CAA)
and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)? use RA, CAA, and LCA - Part A - Video: Which method for which problem? Description of RA, CAA, and LCA - Part B
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge check 2 - Which method for which problem?
- Video: Personal Care Products (PCPs): Part A1a Defining product intake fraction (PiF) and compartment of entry
- Video: PCPs - Parabens: Part A1b Mass balance calculation of the PiF
- Video: Impacts of chemicals in personal care products - Parabens exposures
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge check 3 - Parabens in Personal Care Products
- Graded Assignment: Activity 1 Heat maps to determine exposures to PCPs
- Discussion Prompt: Activity 1 Reflection
- Video: Parabens - impacts and risks
- Video: Impacts of chemicals in PCPs - Overview human health impacts & risks of formaldehyde in PCP
- Graded Assignment: Activity 2 Risks and impacts of hydroquinone in face cream and shampoo
- Discussion Prompt: Activity 2 Reflection
- Video: Introduction to USEtox near-field - formaldehyde in shampoo
- Reading: Download USEtox
- Video: USEtox –The Product Interfaces – Exposures, risks and damages metrics
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge check 4: risk and impact metrics
- Video: USEtox – The UNEP-SETAC toxicity model The Personal Care Product Interface – Exposures, risks and damages
- Graded Assignment: Activity 3 USEtox - hydroquinone in body lotion
- Video: User input data for the Personal Care Product Interface - USEtox – The UNEP-SETAC toxicity model
- Video: [Optional] USEtox transfers and product intake fractions (optional for the general version of USEtox without using product interface)
- Video: [Optional]USEtox dose and risks: the Personal Care Product interface (optional for the general version of USEtox without using product interface)
- Video: [Optional] USEtox impacts (optional for the general version of USEtox without using product interface)
Module 2: Chemicals of Concern
- Reading: Week 2 Slides
- Video: Impacts of PCPs - Should we care - PCP in history and regulations
- Video: Impacts of chemicals in products - Should we care - PCPs chemicals of concern and mitigation strategies
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge check 5 - Chemicals in PCPs should we care
- Video: Impacts and risks of chemicals in household products - Exposure & impacts per chemical-product combination
- Video: Impacts and risks of chemicals in household products - Household products and chemicals of concern: impacts
- Video: Impacts and risks of chemicals in household products - Household products and chemicals of concern: risks
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge check 6 - Household products
- Graded Assignment: Activity 4 household products and diagonal plots
- Discussion Prompt: Activity 4 Reflection
- Discussion Prompt: Activity 5 Ecosystem impacts of household products
- Video: Chemicals in toys Part A Amounts of chemicals
- Video: Chemicals in toys - Part B Exposure
- Video: Chemicals in toys - Part C Risks and chemicals of high concern
- Video: Risks of chemicals in toys - Mouthing and chemicals of concern in toys and buildings
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge check 7: Plasticizers in toys
- Discussion Prompt: Activity 6: Toy stories in the press
- Video: The Toy Interface - Exposures, risks and damages
- Graded Assignment: Activity 7: Plasticizers in toys
- Discussion Prompt: Activity 7 Reflection
Module 3: Life Cycle Based Chemical Alternatives Assessment and Impacts of Fine particulates
- Reading: Week 3 Slides
- Video: Introduction to Chemical Alternatives Assessment (CAA)
- Video: CAA - steps and needs for life cycle based substitution
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge Check 8: CAA
- Video: Framework for a Life Cycle Based alternatives Assessment
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge Check 9: Framework for a Life Cycle Based alternatives Assessment
- Video: LCAA - Flooring case study
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge Check 10: LCAA - Flooring Case Study
- Video: USEtox –The Building Materials Interface – Exposures, risks and damages
- Graded Assignment: Activity 8: CAA of Plasticizers in vinyl flooring
- Discussion Prompt: Activity 8 Reflection
- Video: Impacts of fine particulate and chemicals in products
- Video: Impacts of fine particulates on human health - Framework
- Video: Impacts of fine particulates on human health - Exposure
- Video: Impacts of fine particulates on human health - exposure-response
- Video: Impacts of fine particulates on human health - impacts of a computer & IO
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge Check 11: Impacts of fine particulates
- Graded Assignment: Activity 9 Using an air pollutant calculator
- Video: Exposome, Products, and Health - Part A
- Video: Exposome, Products, and Health - Part B
- Graded Assignment: Knowledge Check 12: Global trade and exposome
- Discussion Prompt: Activity 10 Chemical management
- Video: Summary - Health Impacts of Chemicals in Consumer Products
- Reading: Post-Course Survey
- Video: End Of Series Wrap Up
Grading Policy
Learners must earn at least 80% overall to pass. Three quizzes at the end of each module (33% each) account for 100% of the final grade.
Course content developed by U-M faculty and managed by the university. Faculty titles and affiliations are updated periodically.
Intermediate Level
Some related experience required
