ENVIRO-NEWS

EPA Opens Access to Chemical Information

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Makuch, Joseph" <Joseph.Makuch@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Apr 29, 2010 11:37 AM
Subject: [ENVIRO-NEWS] EPA Opens Access to Chemical Information
To: <Enviro-News@nal.usda.gov>

From: U.S. EPA [mailto:usaepa@govdelivery.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 11:18 AM
Subject: Research News Release (HQ): EPA Opens Access to Chemical
Information

CONTACT:
Latisha Petteway
petteway.latisha@epa.gov
202-564-3191
202-564-4355

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2010

EPA Opens Access to Chemical Information

Searchable database on chemical hazard, exposure and toxicity data now
available

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making it
easier to find chemical information online. EPA is releasing a database,
called ToxRefDB < http://epa.gov/ncct/toxrefdb/ > , which allows
scientists and the interested public to search and download thousands of
toxicity testing results on hundreds of chemicals. ToxRefDB captures 30
years and $2 billion of testing results.

"Tens of thousands of chemicals are in commerce and current chemical
testing is expensive and time consuming. Results from chemical testing
are scattered throughout different sources," said Dr. Robert Kavlock,
director of EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology
< http://epa.gov/ncct/index.html > .  "ToxRefDB allows the public to
search, find and compare available studies about chemical toxicity and
potential health effects."

ToxRefDB provides detailed chemical toxicity data in an accessible
format. It is a part of ACToR
[ http://actor.epa.gov/ ](Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource),
an
online data warehouse that collects data from about 500 public sources
on tens of thousands of environmentally relevant chemicals, including
several hundred in ToxRefDB. Those interested in chemical toxicity can
query a specific chemical and find all available public hazard,
exposure, and risk-assessment data, as well as previously unpublished
studies related to cancer, reproductive, and developmental toxicity.

ToxRefDB connects to an EPA chemical screening tool called ToxCast.
ToxCast is a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort that uses advanced
science tools to help understand biological processes impacted by
chemicals that may lead to adverse health effects. ToxCast currently
includes 500 fast, automated chemical screening tests that have assessed
over 300 environmental chemicals. ToxRefDB, along with ACToR, allows
users to take advantage of this linkage to find and download these
results.

ToxRefDB contains toxicity information that forms the basis for
pesticide risk assessments when combined with other sources of
information, such as those on exposure and metabolism.

More information on the database:  http://actor.epa.gov/toxrefdb
R134
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