Science
Environment
Protecting the environment is a key priority for the silicones industry. Together with our global partners, we have developed a global product stewardship programme. This includes a guide for our downstream users on how to reduce emissions of siloxanes during manufacturing. Read more about these projects in our About us section.
Find out more about our Decarbonisation Study
Persistence and Bioaccumulation
While some models and screening studies may identify some cyclic and linear siloxanes as bioaccumulative, robust, real-world studies have failed to observe “bio-magnifications”. The studies below assess the bioaccumulation potential of cyclic and linear siloxanes.
Selected studies
Long-range environmental transport and back deposition
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was established to ensure that governments work together to protect the environment from POPs that travel over long distances. To protect remote environments such as the Arctic, it is important to assess two things: whether a substance undergoes long-range environmental transport (LRET) (that is, travels over long distances), and if so, whether it deposits back to or transfers to the earth’s surface where it can potentially cause harm. Below is an overview of recent studies on the long-range environmental transport and back deposition potential of Volatile methylsiloxanes (VMS).
Read moreRisk assessment
To understand whether a substance could be harmful to the environment, it is important to know both what the potential hazards are and the exposure. Risk assessment frameworks evaluate both hazard and exposure of a substance to assess its risks. While the criteria provide some information, it is equally important to look at real-life data, to see how substances actually behave in the environment and consider the exposure potential. Governments, scientists, and industry have all performed risk assessments for siloxanes.
In terms of cyclosiloxanes, the overwhelming majority concludes that they are safe for the environment. In addition, independent scientific studies, voluntary industry stewardship efforts, and regulatory evaluations, including from Environment Canada and Health Canada, have all demonstrated the safety of linear siloxanes, including L3 (octamethyltrisiloxane), L4 (decamethyltetrasiloxane) and L5 (dodecamethylpentasiloxane).
Visit our resources section to access the latest studies.
Click hereNews