Hans Plugge - Safer Chemical Analytics LLC

Principal, Safer Chemical Analytics LLC, Columbia, MD
2021 –

Uncertainty analyses of toxicological databases focusing on NAMs
Development of ChemESI, a KPI for environmental sustainability metrics

Manager, Safer Chemical Analytics, Verisk 3E
2018-2021

Senior Toxicologist, Verisk 3E, formerly 3E Company, Bethesda, MD
2013-2021 (Employee since 2014)

Performed uncertainty (meta)analysis of ecotoxicological data, including TTC
Developed 3E Green Score, an innovative, quantitative hazard assessment methodology encompassing 20 plus parameters
Designed a hazard/risk assessment scheme for SDS information
Managed a comprehensive review (600 + pp) for the EU of dose-response relationships for 30 selected reproductive toxins for quantitative economic analysis (subcontract to RPA)
Integrated hazard and risk assessment indices into comprehensive SDS databases
Developed a first to market integrated hazard/risk assessment and LCA methodology
Integrated exposure and risk assessment modules into Safer Chemical Analytics software
Developed methodologies for hazard and risk assessment of mixtures
Maintained 125+ regulatory databases in (eco) toxicology and physical chemistry, including review of raw data as well as data acquisition
Developed Sustainability Index, a synthesis of inventory and hazard databases
Provided regulatory toxicology consulting services for clients ranging from cosmetics to industrial chemicals
Participated in a hazard vs LCA evaluation of plastics recycling technologies
Coauthored a review of role of uncertainty in hazard/risk assessment
Authored more than 50 publications, posters and presentations
Developed an approach for Using Alternatives Assessment strategies to drive the greening of TRI releases.
Assisted in marketing of DuPont’s Chemical Awareness toolkit
Provided sales and marketing support for safer chemical analytics products

Toxicologist, USEPA IRIS Hotline (Subcontract to ASRC/Primus), Washington DC
2011 – 2013

Provided toxicology review and assistance to public and regulatory community for USEPA IRIS

Consulting Toxicologist, Hans Plugge, Consultant, Columbia, MD
1984 – 2014

Performed regulatory toxicology consulting services for government agencies and private industry
Reviewed primary studies on a variety of systemic effects following particulate matter exposure
Authored a review on teratogenic and reproductive effects in children as a sensitive population
Quantified health risks associated with paper plant wastewater re-use in a cogeneration facility
Analyzed statistical associations between ecological toxicity and chemical characteristics of oil drilling fluids
Provided risk assessment services for redevelopment of brownfields
Provided quality assurance/control of large multi-laboratory study of pesticides in vegetables
Analyzed contamination at waste sites resulting in identification of major analytical deficiencies
Evaluated indoor air quality in multi-tenant commercial buildings
Conducted periodic audits of research laboratories, animal and patient facilities
Performed fast-track comprehensive site audits prior to corporate acquisitions
Performed risk assessment of wastewater facilities, including reuse and sludge disposal

Education

S.M. Toxicology
Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
1979
M.Sc. Environmental Biochemistry
University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
1977
Kand. Chemistry (Equivalent to a B.Sc. (Hon.))
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1975

Publications

Alexandra Maertens and Hans Plugge. Better Metrics for “Sustainable by Design”: Toward an in Silico Green Toxicology for Green(er) Chemistry. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2018, 6 (2), pp 1999–2003. DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b03393
Risk & Policy Analysts (Hans Plugge, Main author on behalf of Verisk3E). Study to collect recent information relevant to modernising EU Occupational Safety and Health chemicals legislation with a particular emphasis on reprotoxic chemicals with the view to analyse the health, socio-economic and environmental impacts in connection with possible amendments of Directive 2004/37/EC and Directive 98/24/EC. 2019. Prepared for European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion. Available at https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/094387fb-da9a-11e9-9c4e-01aa75ed71a1 or https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334260797_Study_to_collect_recent_information_relevant_to_modernising_EU_Occupational_Safety_and_Health_chemicals_legislation_with_a_particular_emphasis_on_reprotoxic_chemicals_with_the_view_to_analyse_the_heal
Jakub Kostal, Hans Plugge and Will Raderman. Qualifying Uncertainty in Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment: MUST, A Modular Uncertainty Scoring Tool. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2020, 54(19), pp. 12262–12270. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02224
Hans Plugge and Mark Grossman. Why understanding and communicating uncertainty are crucial parts of risk management. 2020. VERISK PERSPECTIVES | AN ISO EMERGING ISSUES REPORT. https://www.verisk.com/insurance/gated-resources/verisk-perspectives/why-understanding-and-communicating-uncertainty-are-crucial-parts-of-risk-management/
Hans Plugge, Nihar Das and Jakub Kostal. Towards a universal acute fish THRESHOLD OF TOXICOLOGICAL CONCERN (TTC), Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 2021, 40(6), pp.1740-1749. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/etc.4991
Hans Plugge. ChemESI (Chemical Environmental Sustainability Index) – a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) for standardizing environmental metrics for chemical sustainability. 2022. Frontiers in Sustainability, 3. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.834849/full

Presentations

Hans Plugge. 3E Green Chemical Alternatives Assessment System Score — A powerful quantitative screening tool for chemical alternatives. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, North Bethesda, MD, June 2015.
Ann Mason, Erin Mulholland and Hans Plugge. Chemical Alternatives Assessments: Combining Exposure, (Health) Effects and Life Cycle Assessments. Product Stewardship Society, Stewardship 2016, Baltimore, MD, May 2016
1. Hans Plugge. Moving from Hazard Assessment to Risk Assessment in Alternatives Assessment.
1. Hans Plugge. Putting it all together: Integrating Effects, Exposure and Life Cycle Assessment.
Hans Plugge. Decreasing Uncertainty in Assessments: Read-Across. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Portland, OR, June 2016.
Hans Plugge and Nihar Das. Using Alternatives Assessment strategies to drive the greening of TRI releases. US EPA TRI Conference, Washington, DC, October 2016.
Hans Plugge. Hazard and Exposure Assessment Screening in Alternatives Assessment. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 37^th Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, November 2016.
Hans Plugge. Improved Read-Across in Alternatives Assessment. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 37^th Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, November 2016.
Hans Plugge. Hazard Assessments and Read-Across using 3E GreenScore β. Delivered as Guest Lecturer in the course “Chemical Toxicology and Rational Design of Safer Chemicals” at George Washington University, Washington, DC, March 2017.
Hans Plugge. A new tool for the IH Toolbox: Automated Exposure Screening. American Industrial Hygiene Association, AIHce 2017, Seattle, June 2017.
Adrienne Black, Hans Plugge, Margarethe Jaroszewski and Nihar Das. Nanomaterials: Testing and Regulatory Overview. American Industrial Hygiene Association, AIHce 2017, Seattle, June 2017.
Alexandra Maertens and Hans Plugge. Assessment of Sustainable Chemicals: State Of the Art Review. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June 2017.
Hans Plugge. 3E GreenScore β Hazard Assessment of Mixtures: A novel Methodology. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June 2017.
Hans Plugge and Alexandra Maertens. Future of Sustainability for Chemicals in the Supply Chain. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June 2017.
Hans Plugge. Complex Mixtures: From Hazard Assessment to Risk Assessment. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Minneapolis, MN, November 2017.
Alan Johnson and Hans Plugge. The challenge of Global Product Compliance; Driving Value—Reducing Risk Presented at NAEM National Association of EHS&S Management), March, 2018
Patrick Raya and Hans Plugge. Processing EPA’s ToxCast andTox21 High Throughput Screening Data for Hazard Assessment. Chesapeake and Potomac Regional Chapter, Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Fredericksburg, VA, May 2018.
Hans Plugge. Enterprise-Wide Risk and Hazard Assessment. Chesapeake and Potomac Regional Chapter, Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Fredericksburg, VA, May 2018.
Evan M Griffing, Hans Plugge and Michael Overcash. Hazard and life cycle aspects of green chemistry metrics for alternatives assessment. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Portland, OR, June 2018.
Alexandra Maertens and Hans Plugge. In vitro and in silico data for molecular toxicology: Green Toxicology for Green Chemistry. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Portland, OR, June 2018.
Hans Plugge. Sustainability at an enterprise level: Focusing greening of the value chain. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Portland, OR, June 2018.
Hans Plugge. From Hazard Assessment Through Product Stewardship to Sustainability. Product Stewardship 2018, Washington, DC, September 2018.
Hans Plugge. Ecotoxicological Screening of Mixtures. Chesapeake and Potomac Regional Chapter, Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Davis, WV, April 2019.
Hans Plugge. Beyond Single Chemicals: Alternatives Assessment of Mixtures. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June 2019.
Hans Plugge. Sustainability Index: Quantification of a Key Performance Indicator. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June 2019.
Evan M. Griffing, Michael Overcash, James Ewell and Hans Plugge. Plastic waste to plastic value: A life cycle analysis. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June 2019.
Hans Plugge and Jakub Kostal, Acute Fish Toxicological Threshold of Toxicological Concern: TTC – a Meta-Analysis. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Toronto, November 2019.
Jakub Kostal and Hans Plugge, Facilitating Hazard Evaluation in Alternatives assessment via an Uncertainty Scoring System that Integrates Mixed Toxicity Data Streams. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Toronto, November 2019.
Jakub Kostal, Emma Lavoie and Hans Plugge. Uncertainty in Estimating Systems Accuracy and its Impact on Decision-making in Green Design. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Virtual, June 2020.
Regina White and Hans Plugge. Change Management for Product Stewardship Professionals. Short Course produced by Product Stewardship Society, August 2020.
Hans Plugge and Jakub Kostal. Acute Fish Toxicological Threshold of Toxicological Concern: TTC – a Meta-Analysis. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, SciCon2, Virtual, November 2020.
Hans Plugge. Hazard and Risk assessment. Guest lecture delivered at George Washington University. May 2021.
Jakub Kostal, Will Raderman and Hans Plugge. MUST, a Modular Uncertainty Scoring Tool that Integrates Mixed Toxicity Data Streams to Aid in (Q)SAR Model Development. QSAR 2021, Virtual, June 2021.
Hans Plugge. Assessing Alternatives in view of Uncertainties in Toxicological Data: New Approach Methods (NAMs). Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, SciCon4, Virtual, November 2021.
Hans Plugge. Uncertainties in hazard/risk assessment. Guest lecture delivered at George Washington University. March 2022.
Hans Plugge. ChemESI: a KPI for measuring chemical environmental sustainability. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June 2022.

Posters

Hans Plugge and Longzhu Shen. Progressing from Alternatives Assessment to de novo Chemistry. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Portland, OR, June 2016.
Hans Plugge, Longzhu Shen and Erin Mulholland. Progressing from Alternatives Assessment to de novo Chemistry: Part II. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 37^th Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, November 2016.
Hans Plugge and Adrienne Black. A novel Automated Hazard Screening Methodology: 3E GreenScore. Society of Toxicology 56^th Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, March 2017.
Adrienne Black, Hans Plugge and Margarethe Jaroszewski. Use of Extrapolation Techniques to Determine Acute Toxicity Estimates Based on Data from Other Routes of Exposure. Society of Toxicology 56^th Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, March 2017.
Hans Plugge. 3E GreenScore: A New Metric for scoring Hazard and Risk. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June 2017.
Hans Plugge. A Novel Methodology for Screening Hazard and Risk from Environmental Exposure to Mixtures. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, North America Focused Topic Meeting: Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures, Denver, CO, September 2017.
Hans Plugge. A New Approach to Safer Chemical Analytics: 3E GreenScore. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Minneapolis, MN, November 2017.
Screening Data. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, North America Focused Topic Meeting: High Throughput Screening, Durham, NC, April 2018.
Hans Plugge, Evan M Griffing, Michael Overcash. I-Hazard and risk assessment in Alternatives Assessment. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Portland, OR, June 2018
Evan M Griffing, Michael Overcash, Hans Plugge. II-LCA in Alternatives Assessment. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Portland, OR, June 2018
Patrick Alexander Raya, Nihar Das, Hans Plugge. High throughput screening of green chemicals: Data interpretation for hazard assessment. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Portland, OR, June 2018.
Hans Plugge, Evan Griffing and Michael Overcash. Hazard, Risk and Life Cycle Assessment in Alternatives Assessment. Association for the Advancement of Alternatives Assessment. Sacramento, CA, November 2018.
Hans Plugge. Hazard and Exposure Risk Screening Assessment in Alternatives Assessment of Mixtures. Association for the Advancement of Alternatives Assessment. Sacramento, CA, November 2018.
Hans Plugge and Patrick Raya. Incorporating HTS data in classical data based screening risk assessments. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Sacramento, CA, November 2018.
Hans Plugge. Sustainability Index: a KPI for Industry. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Sacramento, CA, November 2018.
Hans Plugge, Evan Griffing and Michael Overcash. LCA and AA: an Integrated Screening Approach. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Sacramento, CA, November 2018.
Hans Plugge, Nihar Das and Jakub Kostal. A meta-analysis of acute toxicity tests in fish. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Toronto, November 2019.Hans Plugge, Nihar Das and Jakub Kostal. Meta-analysis of acute fish data I – Data approach and statistical analysis. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Toronto, November 2019.
Hans Plugge, Nihar Das and Jakub Kostal. Meta-analysis of acute fish data II – Chemical specific data. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Toronto, November 2019.
Hans Plugge and Jakub Kostal. Uncertainty in acute fish testing data – a meta-analysis. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Europe, SciCon, Virtual, May 2020.
Hans Plugge, Nihar Das and Jakub Kostal. Uncertainties in Biological Data: Toxicological Threshold of Concern. American Chemical Society, Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Virtual, June 2020.
Robert Hoke, John O’Connor and Hans Plugge. Chemical Awareness Toolkit: A Free Integrated Data Resource for Environmental Assessments. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, SciCon2, Virtual, November 2020.
Hans Plugge, Nihar Das and Jakub Kostal. A TTC for acute fish toxicity. QSAR2021, Virtual June 2021.
Hans Plugge. Use of New Approach Methods (NAMs) in Alternatives Assessment (AA): implications for future regulatory decisions. A4 (American Association for Alternatives Assessment), Virtual, October 2021.
Hans Plugge. Sustainability Index – a chemical sustainability metric. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Europe, Copenhagen , presented Virtually, May 2022.
Hans Plugge. Sustainability Index – a chemical sustainability metric. International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, Pittsburgh, June 2022.