Topic: Exposure and Health Risks of Emerging Chemical Alternatives

The rapid replacement of regulated or phased-out chemicals with structurally similar alternatives has created new challenges for environmental exposure science and public health. Although these substitutes are often introduced as safer options, many lack comprehensive information on their environmental persistence, exposure pathways, toxicological profiles, and long-term health effects. Some may therefore represent “regrettable substitutions", in which one hazardous chemical is replaced by another with comparable or previously unrecognized risks.

This Special Issue, “Exposure and Health Risks of Emerging Chemical Alternatives,” brings together research on the occurrence, fate, human exposure, toxicity, and health implications of alternative chemicals across environmental, occupational, and consumer settings. It welcomes studies employing environmental monitoring, biomonitoring, exposure modeling, epidemiology, toxicology, and integrated risk-assessment approaches. Particular attention is given to vulnerable populations, mixture effects, transformation products, and disparities in exposure and susceptibility. By advancing understanding of both well-known substitutes and newly introduced compounds, this Special Issue aims to identify critical evidence gaps, support safer chemical design and substitution, and inform timely, health-protective policies before widespread exposure and adverse consequences become entrenched.