1997 Herbert Stokinger Lecture

Abstract

Abstract The Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS), formerly the Toxic Substances List, was started at the same time that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health was founded at the end of 1970. It was mandated then that the first list be published by June 28, 1971, and subsequently that it be published periodically, at least annually. This congressional mandate has been met faithfully since the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed. At times when there have been budgetary constraints, continuation of the RTECS publication has been threatened. The loss of RTECS would essentially remove the expanding technical support upon which users depend for information on chemical hazards, and thus their basis for protection from exposures, particularly to lesser-known and -used chemical substances. Neither national, state, nor local occupational health agencies can allot sufficient budgetary resources to properly monitor and control these exposures. By increasing the variety of datafields to include more hazard descriptive data, RTECS will more thoroughly describe the nature of the hazards associated with the use of any substance and will assist the users of the substances to prevent exposure-related illnesses and deaths. Therefore, RTECS will never be completed nor finished.