TOXNET

TOXNET is a group of databases hosted by the National Library of Medicine
containing factual information related to the toxicity and other hazards of
chemicals. They are structured around chemical records.

There are four basic groupings of TOXNET databases. Within each of these
groupings are one or more databases. The first grouping is Toxicology Data
including factual information on toxicity and other hazards of chemicals. The
databases included in Toxicology Databases are the following four - Hazardous
Substances Data Bank (HSDB) providing broad scope in human and animal toxicity,
safety and handling, environmental fate, and more. Scientifically
peer-reviewed; the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) providing Data
from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of human health risk
assessment. It, focuses on identifying hazards and assessing the connection
between dose and response; Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System
(CCRIS) providing carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, tumor promotion, and tumor
inhibition data provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and GENE-TOX
providing peer-reviewed mutagenicity test data from the EPA.

The second grouping is Toxicology Literature. These TOXNET databases contain
bibliographic information with citations to the scientific literature. You can
use this information to locate the article in a journal. Many provide
hyperlinks to Medical Subject Headings (MESH) and other keywords. The
databases included in Toxicology Literature are the following three - TOXLINE,
providing an extensive array of references to literature on biochemical,
pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other
chemicals; Environmental Mutagen Information Center (EMIC) providing current
and older literature on agents tested for genotoxic activity and Developmental
and Reproductive Toxicology (DART) and Environmental Teratology Information
Center (ETIC) providing current and older literature on developmental and
reproductive toxicology.

The third grouping is the Toxic Release Information which includes just The
Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) database created by the Environmental Protection
Agency and contains data on the estimated quantities of chemicals released to
the environment or transferred off-site for waste treatment. TRI also holds
information related to source reduction and recycling. Data for the most recent
and two prior reporting years is currently available. This particular TRI
database includes the years 1995 to 1999.

The fourth grouping is Chemical Information. Chemicals are identified in a
number of ways, including by name and structural diagram. Using a dictionary or
a thesaurus can help you find information for a particular substance. SIS
maintains several chemical online resources to help you determine the identity
of a substance and point you to files or resources of interest. There are three
databases within this grouping. The first is ChemIDplus providing Numerous
chemical synonyms, structures, regulatory list information, and links to other
databases containing information about the chemicals; HSDB Structures providing
2D and 3D structural information on the HSDB chemicals and NCI-3D providing 2D
and 3Dstructural information on compounds tested for anti-tumor activity
compiled by the National Cancer Institute.

The TOXNET Basic Search screens are intuitive and straightforward. Most screens
(except for the TRI database) allow you to place all query information in a
single input box. For example, you may be looking for a chemical name, a
particular author, a CAS Registry Number, or any type of concept term. You may
enter any combination of these into the single input box. In some databases,
you may also limit your search by author, title or dates.