Quoting HumanToll
A figure from HumanToll is an estimate with a range, linked to products under stated assumptions. Quoted that way, it is accurate. Quoted any other way, it is not.
Quote every figure with its range, with no more than two meaningful digits, and say that it is attributed to the supply chain of a product — linked to the work of making it — not caused by it. Say that it counts the production phase only and that it is a floor: harm the model cannot link to a product is not counted. Name the scenario and the calculation (run). HumanToll names no company, brand or person, and neither should a sentence that quotes it.
Where it stands
Figures are published. Each page and each API response names its calculation, scenario, method version and data version — quote them.
Say this, not that
The phrasings HumanToll itself uses, and the ones that would misstate it.
| Say | Not |
|---|---|
| “attributed to the supply chain of” | “caused by” |
| “an estimated 0.4–3.5 deaths per million units” | “1.2 deaths per million units” — a central value without its range |
| “under the economic-embedded scenario” | a figure with no scenario named |
| “production phase only; excludes harm from using the product” | silence about the phase |
| “this is a floor: harm the model cannot attribute is not counted” | “the total human cost” |
| “the model estimates” | “the truth”, “the real cost” |
Six readings that are wrong
Does HumanToll say a product kills people?
No. Using statistics and stated assumptions, it links a share of the deaths and injuries counted in wars, at work and in poverty to the supply chains of products. It does not claim that a product caused any death or injury, and no figure says that buying a product caused one.
Is this the total human cost of a product?
No, and by design. Every figure is a floor: harm the model cannot link to a supply chain is not counted, the materials method counts only the raw materials a product’s list of materials traces, and every figure covers the production phase only — harm from using a product is not in it.
Is product A deadlier than product B?
Only where HumanToll says so. Two products are calculated together, and one is called larger only when even the edge of the range agrees. Otherwise the model cannot tell them apart, and the comparison page says exactly that. Compare per item only for similar items; otherwise compare per kilogram, and the page says which.
Which companies are responsible?
HumanToll names none, and a figure from it is not a statement about any company, brand or person. It studies typical products — “a mid-size electric car” — and how they are made.
Can I round the figure, or quote the central value?
Two meaningful digits is the most precision the model has, and the range is part of the finding: quote it with the figure, every time. A figure graded INDICATIVE has no central value at all — only its range may be quoted.
Is the country where the harm was counted to blame?
No. A country page shows where harm was counted and where the products it reaches were made and used; those are usually not the same people. How much of a war’s cost is linked to the economy depends on the scenario — the main one links all of it — and every page lets a reader switch the scenario and see the figure change.
Citing a figure
Cite the calculation and the page the figure came from, as each page’s own citation box gives it:
HumanToll <year>, run <id>, methodology v<version>. <the page’s address>
What every figure is
HumanToll estimates how much human harm can be linked, by statistics, to the work of making the things we buy, using assumptions it states openly. It does not say that a product caused any particular death or injury, it says nothing about any company, and it is not a full count: harm that cannot be linked to a product is left out, so every figure is a lower bound — a floor, not a total. Figures are production-phase only: they cover making a product, not using it. Read the methodology before quoting a number, and quote its range with it.
Questions, and errors
A question about a figure or the method goes to info@quiescence.eu