Chemical Assessment Decision Tree
Berkeley Cue and Mark Rossi
June 22, 2007
Note: the list of resources included below is illustrative of relevant resources, but not
comprehensive.
1.
Is the chemical on an “authoritative” list (such as IARC) for an endpoint or
endpoints of very high concern (such as cancer, reproductive/developmental toxicity,
or PBT)?
If the chemical is not listed on an authoritative list for an endpoint of high concern …
2.
Perform literature search, including:
2.1.
Evaluate Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for the chemical. Warning:
MSDS sheets are notoriously poor sources of up-to-date toxicological data!
2.2.
Risk or hazard assessment by the US or EU. Risk/hazard assessments are
good overview sources of a chemical’s risk/hazard profile. However, they
quickly become outdated for chemicals that are high priorities for research
by independent scientists. For example, today the toxicological, hazard,
environmental fate and transport, and exposure data on bisphenol A,
brominated flame retardants, and phthalates is rapidly evolving.
2.2.1. EU risk assessments are found at “ORATS” - Online European Risk
Assessment Tracking System - http://ecb.jrc.it/esis/index.php?PGM=ora1
2.2.2. US
-- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Toxicological Profiles - http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxpro2.html 2
-- National Toxicology Program Center for the Evaluation of Risks to
Human Reproduction (NTP CERHR) - monographs on the
reproductive/developmental toxicity of chemicals http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/reports/index.html3
2.3.
Chemical hazard and toxicological databases
2.3.1. EU
Homepage for the datasets listed below: European chemical
Substances Information System (ESIS) - http://ecb.jrc.it/esis/4
-- IUCLID Dataset - http://ecb.jrc.it/esis/index.php?PGM=dat5
-- HPV-LPV (High Production Volume - Low Production Volume)
database - http://ecb.jrc.it/esis/index.php?PGM=hpv6
-- C&L - Classification and Labeling database http://ecb.jrc.it/esis/index.php?PGM=cla7
2.3.2. US
United States National Library of Medicine, TOXNET - Toxicology
Data Network, http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/8
106759855
-- Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?HSDB.9 Warning:
data on IRIS may not be up-to-date.
-- Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?IRIS.10 Warning:
data on IRIS may not be up-to-date.
-- Other databases on TOXNET:
◦
DART - Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology
Database - for more up-to-date research see NTP
CERHR (section 2.2.2)
◦
GENETOX
◦
CCRIS - Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information
System
HPVIS
US EPA Extremely Hazardous Substances Chemical Profiles: includes
physical/chemical properties, health hazards, fire and explosion hazards,
reactivity data http://yosemite.epa.gov/oswer/ceppoehs.nsf/EHS_Profile?openform 11
2.3.3. Canada
2.3.4. OECD
2.4.
Original, Peer Reviewed Research - Online Search Engines
2.4.1. PubMed -- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/12 -- excellent
search engine for peer-reviewed research. PubMed is a service of the
National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
2.4.2. Google Scholar -- http://scholar.google.com/ 13 -- a sometimes easier
search engine to use than PubMed
The combination of these two search engines is usually effective at finding the
latest, most relevant peer reviewed journal articles.
If no research data …
3.
QSAR / SAR data
3.1.
US EPA Tools -http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/newchems/pubs/sustainablefutures.htm 14
3.1.1. P2 Framework Manual http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/newchems/pubs/sustainable/p2framejune05a2.pdf15
3.1.2. PBT Profiler
3.1.3. OncoLogicTM - cancer
3.1.4. ECOSAR - ecotoxicity
3.1.5. Models to estimate physical/chemical properties: MPBPWINTM,
WSKOWWINTM, KOWWINTM, HENRYWINTM, PCKOCWINTM
3.1.6. Models to estimate chemical fate in the environment: AOPWINTM,
HYDROWIN TM, BIOWIN TM, BCFWIN TM, STPWIN TM, LEV3EPI TM (see P2
Framework Manual)
3.1.7. Models to estimate exposure and/or risk: E-FAST and ChemSTEER
2
106759855
If QSAR/SAR does not work for the chemical …
4.
Reject chemical or generate baseline data internally or have supplier generate
baseline data
3
106759855
Endnotes
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
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4
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5
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6
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7
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
8
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
9
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
10
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
11
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
12
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
13
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
14
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
15
Webpage last accessed: June 22, 2007.
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