EPA announced the release of two databases aimed at providing the public with more access to chemical information. The databases: Toxicity Forecaster database (ToxCastDB) and a database of chemical exposure studies (ExpoCastDB) put online 30 years worth of toxicity and exposure data previously only available via paper documents.
According to EPA, ToxCastDB allows users to search over 500 rapid chemical tests conducted on more than 300 environmental chemicals. “ToxCast uses advanced scientific tools to predict the potential toxicity of chemicals and to provide a cost-effective approach to prioritizing which chemicals of the thousands in use require further testing.” Data for an additional 700 chemicals will be available in 2012.
ExpoCastDB consolidates human exposure data from studies that have collected chemical measurements from homes and childcare centers. Data include the amounts of chemicals found in food, drinking water, air, dust, indoor surfaces and urine. ExpoCastDB users can obtain summary statistics of exposure data and download datasets.
Both databases are available from EPA’s ACToR site. The site is an online warehouse of “all publicly available chemical toxicity data and can be used to find all publicly available data about potential chemical risks to human health and the environment. ACToR aggregates data from over 500 public sources on over 500,000 environmental chemicals searchable by chemical name, other identifiers and by chemical structure.”