5.3.1 Textbooks
Sax’s Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials (3 vols, 11th edn, 2004) covers over 26,000 toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, highly flammable, or potentially explosive substances. Included are health-related and physical property data. There are many pages of synonyms in several languages to assist users and it also includes a CAS Registry Number index. A CD-ROM version is also available.
Patty’s Industrial Hygiene and Patty’s Toxicology , now in its 6th edition, collectively cover general principles, toxicology, and theory and rationale. The focus of these texts in recent editions has been extended beyond the industrial workplace to environmental safety and hazard control. Both books contain comprehensive toxicological data for industrial com-pounds from metals to synthetic polymers. Information for each compound includes CAS numbers, Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemicals (RTECS) numbers, physical and chemical properties, threshold limit values (TLVs), permissible exposure limits (PELs), maximum workplace concentrations (MAK), and biological tolerance values for occupational exposures.
Ellenhorn’s Medical Toxicology: Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Poisoning , (3rd edn, 2003) by Williams and Wilkins, published posthumously, has over 300 chapters with more than 13,000 references. The text, organized into six sections, gives a national and international approach to principles of poison management, individual drugs, intoxicants in the home, chemical poisons, natural toxins, and mass incidents.
Goldfrank’s Toxicologic Emergencies (8th edn, 2006) uses a case-study approach to medical toxicology. This comprehensive reference has 135 chapters covering toxicological emergencies, related environmental problems, and issues affecting emergency departments, the poison centres and the poisoned patient. In addition, an accompanying study guide provides several case studies as well as a questions and answer section.
Textbooks have evolved from print-based materials to electronic internet-based resources, including some of the texts listed above.
5.3.2 Internet resources
When accessing toxicology resources on the internet care must be taken as there are numerous sites and it is important to access reputable or ‘accredited’ sources.
Individuals vary in their ability to conduct internet searches for reliable information.
When using internet resources it is important to ensure that the material found has been critically appraised and validated, from an authoritative source or subject to independent peer review. A small selection of authoritative sites is presented below.
5.3.2.1 Compendium of Chemical Hazards, Health Protection Agency The Health Protection Agency’s (HPA) Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division produces as part of its information resource a series entitled a Compendium of Chemical Hazards . The aim is to produce an online information resource for the public and professionals
who may be involved in advising and responding to chemical incidents, especially public health professionals and emergency services. The Compendium of Chemical Hazards is split into three sections:
◆ general information , which provides background information on the compound, including its uses and frequently asked questions, and aims to be accessible for those from a non-toxicological background;
◆ incident management focuses on information that may be needed during chemical incidents, such as physicochemical properties, health effects and decontamination;
◆ toxicological overview provides more in-depth toxicology of the compound, summa-rizing the most relevant human and animal studies from the literature;
5.3.2.2 INCHEM, International Program on Chemical Safety
The International Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS) produces INCHEM as a co-oper-ative program, which is an invaluable tool for those concerned with chemical safety and the proper management of chemicals. IPCS INCHEM directly responds to one of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS) priority actions to consolidate cur-rent, internationally peer-reviewed chemical safety-related publications and database records from international bodies for public access. IPCS INCHEM offers rapid access to internationally peer-reviewed information on chemicals commonly used throughout the world, which may also occur as contaminants in the environment and food. The site pro-vides quick and easy electronic access to thousands of searchable full-text documents on chemical risks and the sound management of chemicals:
◆ Concise International Chemical Assessment Documents (CICADS);
◆ Environmental Health Criteria (EHC) Monographs;
◆ Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)—Monographs and Evaluations;
◆ Health and Safety Guides (HSGs);
◆ International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)—Summaries and Evaluations;
◆ International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSC);
The US National Library of Medicine (NLM) toxicology data service TOXNET is a free service with access to a range of free toxicology databases. Included are:
◆ Toxicology Data Search for factual information in the databases HSDB (see below), Gene-Tox, CCRIS (carcinogenesis), IRIS (the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) risk assessment database) and the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS);
◆ Toxicology Literature Search for bibliographic records from TOXLINE and the genotoxic/
reproductive database DART/ETIC;
◆ Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Search, reporting EPA’s annual estimate of releases of toxic substances into the environment;
◆ Chemical Information Search for identification of substances by name, structure, etc.
(ChemIDplus contains > 367,000 records and > 182,000 structures; HSDB: > 4500 records; and NCI-3D: > 213,000 substances).
5.3.2.4 Hazardous Substances Data Bank
The Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB, available through TOXNET) contains over 6000 chemical records, each of which can have as many as 150 data fields covering human health effects, emergency medical treatment, animal toxicity studies, metabolism/
pharmacokinetics, pharmacology, environmental fate and exposure, environmental standards and regulations, chemical/physical properties, chemical safety and handling, occupational exposure standards and more. HSDB is peer-reviewed by a committee of experts, the Scientific Review Panel (SRP).
5.3.2.5 Integrated Risk Information System, US Environmental Protection Agency
The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is prepared and maintained by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), and is an electronic database containing information on human health effects that may result from exposure to various chemicals in the environment. The information in IRIS is intended for those without extensive training in toxicology, but with some knowledge of health sciences. The dataset contains descriptive and quantitative information in the following categories:
◆ oral reference doses and inhalation reference concentrations (RfDs and RfCs, respec-tively) for chronic non-carcinogenic health effects;
◆ hazard identification, and oral and inhalation unit risks for carcinogenic effects.
5.3.2.6 Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards is intended as a source of general indus-trial hygiene information for workers, employers, and occupational health professionals.
The Pocket Guide presents key information and data in abbreviated tabular form for 677 chemicals or substance groupings (e.g. manganese compounds, tellurium compounds, inorganic tin compounds, etc.) that are commonly found in the work environment. The industrial hygiene information found in the Pocket Guide should help users recognize and control occupational chemical hazards. The chemicals or substances contained in this revision include all substances for which the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recommended exposure limits (RELs).
5.3.2.7 Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is the principal federal public health agency charged with responsibility for evaluating the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances. The United States Congress requires ATSDR to provide toxicological profiles to state health and environmental agencies and to make
them available to other interested parties. The toxicological profiles are summaries of ATSDR’s evaluations concerning whether and at what levels of exposure adverse health effects occur and levels at which no adverse effects occur. The profiles include informa-tion about exposure and environmental fate that may help readers determine the significance of levels found in the environment. Toxicological profiles also provide inter-pretations of data, which distinguishes them from ordinary reviews. Interinter-pretations are useful for those health professionals who may not have the resources to gather and consider all the toxicological data themselves.
5.3.2.8 European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) was estab-lished in 1978 as a scientific, non-profit, non-commercial association. It is financed by leading companies with interests in the manufacture and use of chemicals. A stand-alone organization, it was established to provide a scientific forum through which the extensive specialist expertise in the European chemical industry could be harnessed to research, review, assess, and publish studies on the ecotoxicology and toxicology of chemicals.
ECETOC produces a range of peer-reviewed technical reports and monographs review-ing generic topics or issues fundamental to the application of sound science in evaluatreview-ing the hazards and risks of chemicals to human health and the environment.