Ranking and Screening Hazardous Chemicals for Human Health in Southeast China

Copeland and comprehensive multi-index comparison methods were used to rank and screen hazardous chemicals using original and pre-treatment data sets. The results show that the Copeland method can yield similar results for the two data sets. The results of a comprehensive multi-index comparison with the pretreatment dataset also show some similarities to those obtained using Copeland method. The results of the two methods show 18 common chemicals that belong in the top 20 chemicals. Of these chemicals, six are different types of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, seven are POPs, three are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and two are pesticides. These substances should be regarded as chemicals of concern, and appropriate handling should be followed. Overall, the Copeland method with the original dataset can rapidly, reasonably, and effectively rank and screen hazardous chemicals. by Halfon et al. [1], Copeland score method (Al-Sharrah [6]), and the comprehensive multi-index comparison (Ren and Xiong [7]). The aim of this paper is to identify the chemicals that are hazardous to human health in Southeast China and to determine the hazard ranking of these chemicals. The results may provide realistic information that can be used in developing hazard control policies and management. In this study, human health effects, environmental effects, octanol–water partitioning, bioaccumulation, human exposure concentration, and frequency of detection were used as indicators to determine the chemical hazards. The human exposure concentration data of these chemicals were obtained by the project team that completed the previous measurement. The other data for the study can be found in the “Case study” section. The Copeland score method and comprehensive multi-index comparison method were used in this study. Principle of the Method Copeland score method The Copeland score method was proposed by A. H. Copeland (1951) in a seminar on applications of mathematics to the social sciences at the University of Michigan [8]. It is a simple nonparametric method that has been used to evaluate the election results after voting. To use the method outside the voting field, candidates are replaced by objects, and votes are replaced by indicators. Two papers reported on the investigation of the properties and flaws of the Copeland score method [9,10]. The Copeland score method is based on a comparison of one Citation: Jining L, Chen T, Deling F, Lei W, Linjun Z, et al. (2014) Ranking and Screening Hazardous Chemicals for Human Health in Southeast China. Organic Chem Curr Res 3: 126. doi:10.4172/2161-0401.1000126