Toxicological Information Resources at the National Library of Medicine

Abstract

TOXicology Data NETwork (TOXNET) 〈www.toxnet. nlm.nih.gov〉, is a web-based information system that provides access to information regarding the medical, occupational, pharmacokinetic, toxicological, and environmental effects of biological and chemical substances. TOXNET is maintained by the National Library of Medicine’s Division of Specialized Information Services, a part of the National Institutes of Health within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. TOXNET includes bibliographic, factual, and dictionary data banks. One factual data bank is the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) 〈www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgibin/sis/htmlgen?HSDB〉, which contains more than 5,000 comprehensive records for unique chemical compounds. The data covered in this resource include the following: chemical identification, chemical and physical properties, safety and handling, human and nonhuman toxicity data, pharmacology, metabolism, environmental fate, monitoring and analysis, and regulatory information. HSDB files are peer-reviewed by a group of nationally and internationally recognized scientists and physicians. Another factual data bank is Haz-Map 〈www.hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/〉, which provides information about occupational exposures to chemical substances. Haz-Map also contains acute human toxicity information. Another data bank, Household Products Database 〈www.hpd.nlm.nih.gov/〉, contains data derived from material safety data sheets and product labels for items commonly purchased in grocery stores and hardware shops. The Toxics Release Information (TRI) 〈www.toxnet. nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?TRI〉 provides data reported to EPA on the amount of specified (regulated) chemicals that industrial and governmental organizations release into the environment (air, water, soil), as well as data on the amounts removed from a particular facility. ToxMap (Environmental Health e-Maps) 〈www.toxmap.nlm. nih.gov/toxmap/main/index.jsp〉 is a data bank that provides geographic representation of TRI data, showing chemical plants and facilities releasing selected hazardous substances to the environment Information can be retrieved by locality (name of state, county, zip code), as well as by chemical name or other identifier or facility name. Another TOXNET data bank, the Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System (CCRIS) 〈www.toxnet. nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?CCRIS〉, provides data on carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and tumor promotion studies. The content of the file is reviewed by experts at the National Cancer Institute. Meanwhile, the GENETOX data bank 〈www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/ htmlgen?GENETOX〉, reviewed by EPA scientific experts, contains citations and test results from mutagenicity studies. The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) 〈www. toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?IRIS〉 is a TOXNET data bank built by the EPA. IRIS contains data on animal and human risk calculations for selected chemicals. By contrast, the ITER data bank 〈www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?iter〉 built by Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), contains over 600 chemical records, including risk assessment information based on noncancer oral, cancer oral, non-cancer inhalation, and cancer inhalation endpoints. Central to TOXNET is ChemIDplus 〈www.chem.sis.nlm. nih.gov/chemidplus/〉, a dictionary-type data bank for nearly 400,000 compounds. ChemIDplus provides synonyms, pointers to other NLM files containing information on the chemical selected, and pointers to non-NLM sources, including links to the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, the American Council of Governmental and Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the EPA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the World Health Organization (WHO). TOXLINE 〈www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen? TOXLINE〉 on TOXNET is a bibliographic toxicology information set, with citations and abstracts from various resources, including standard journal literature, technical reports, and other special collections. TOXLINE records can be searched using chemical name, CAS registry number, synonyms, and index terms or keywords. Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART) 〈www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?DARTETIC〉 is another bibliographic