Software is radically changing chemical management. But while the growing chemical safety software options available help more businesses keep their workers safe and workplaces compliant, the crowded space also makes it harder for those shopping for a solution to select one that best fits their needs.

A great deal of attention about chemical dangers in the workplace gets focused on inhalation as an exposure route, but skin contact – especially via busy hands -- can also result in significant harm to human health. In many cases, skin is a more significant route of exposure than the lung.

According to Frost and Sullivan’s North American Industrial Protective Clothing Market Forecast to 2020, apparel with multiple protective functionalities is becoming increasingly popular.

It’s impossible to know exactly how many chemicals exist in the world, but more than 60 million are registered with Chemical Abstracts Service system.

Using a new imaging technique, National Institutes of Health researchers have found that the biological machinery that builds DNA can insert molecules into the DNA strand that are damaged as a result of environmental exposures.

OSHA says that the employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses appropriate hand protection and other protective clothing where there is exposure to hazards such as skin absorption of harmful substances, severe cuts or lacerations, severe abrasions, punctures, chemical burns, thermal burns, harmful temperature extremes, and sharp objects.

A Senate effort to reform the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is scheduled for a hearing next week in the House. The controversial legislation, which was introduced in May by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), will likely get a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

Seventeen scientists who launched a high profile attack on plans in Europe to regulate endocrine-disrupting chemicals have past or current ties to regulated industries. An investigation by Environmental Health News (EHN) revealed that of 18 toxicology journal editors who signed a controversial editorial, 17 have worked with or for the chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, tobacco, pesticide or biotechnology industries.

While efforts to reform the federal Toxic Chemicals Safety Act continue to inch slowly forward, the state of California has taken a bold regulatory leap into controlling toxic chemicals – at least those found in consumer products.