ABSTRACT
A computer-based data network containing information on potentially toxic chemicals released into the environment is being developed by the Joint Research Centre of the Commission of the European Communities and by research institutions in the member states as part of a program for environmental research. The information requested daily by toxicologists involved in administration, scientific research, and clinical or forensic toxicology covers different fields or disciplines. The data base, which is still in a pilot phase, collects data on environmental chemicals (about 30,000) spread over more than 100 data fields. These include identification; physical and chemical properties; analytical methods; economic data; hazard classifications for transport, handling and storage; waste disposal; environmental dispersion and transformation; toxicology: acute and chronic effects, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, behavioral effects; occupational air standards, first-aid treatments in case of poisoning or environmental disaster. Data stored in the data bank are original literature data which have been evaluated by specialists.
Subject(s)
Drug Information Services , Toxicology , Data Collection , Filing , HumansABSTRACT
A data bank for environmental chemicals, ECDIN, is being developed at the Joint Research Centre of the European Communities in cooperation with universities and research institutes in the nine member states as a part of the Environmental Research Programme of the EC. During the pilot phase of the project, data from the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances have been incorporated into the data bank. Conversions of the data into ECDIN input format was necessary before inclusion of the toxicity data in ECDIN, and the computer programs used for this format conversion have produced various statistics for the contents of the RTECS files. Analyses of the data in three editions of RTECS are presented.
