Toxicologists
All substances are poisons, there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy - Paracelsus, 1493-1541
image by: Ann Shippy MD
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Toxicology Has Advanced. The EPA Needs to Advance With It
ON THE FOURTH of July, 1985, as the sun shone and the temperatures rose, people celebrated by eating watermelon. Then they got sick — becoming part of one of the nation’s largest episodes of foodborne illness caused by a pesticide. The outbreak began with a few upset stomachs in Oregon on July 3; by the next day, more than a dozen people in California were also doubling over with nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. A few suffered seizures.
All told, the CDC estimated that more than 1,000 individuals from Oregon, California, Arizona and other states, along with two Canadian provinces, became ill from eating melons, picked from a field in California, contaminated with a breakdown product…
Resources
Turned Up for Toxins – Interview with Toxicologist and Communicator Dr. Emily Monosson
Snakes, frogs, octopi, platypi, spiders, milkweeds, hemlock and the humblest of bacterial colonies all produce enough toxins to kill a full-grown human. But what caused toxins to evolve in the first place? And why did we adapt to some toxins but not others? And how are other species evolving to cope with the chemicals that humans have put into the environment?
A Small Dose of Toxicology History
The history of toxicology is rich with personalities, political intrigue, warfare, regulation, and, most importantly, lessons learned.
Toxicology Has Advanced. The EPA Needs to Advance With It
Toxicology has advanced, but the agency responsible for its application, the EPA, currently appears to be in retreat.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ATSDR serves the public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and diseases related to toxic substances.
Evolution in a Toxic World
How life responds to chemical threats
Haz-Map
Haz-Map is an occupational health database designed for health and safety professionals and for consumers seeking information about the adverse effects of workplace exposures to chemical and biological agents. Haz-Map shows the diseases linked to each agent and the agents linked to each disease.
LactMed
The LactMed® database contains information on drugs and other chemicals to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed. It includes information on the levels of such substances in breast milk and infant blood, and the possible adverse effects in the nursing infant. Suggested therapeutic alternatives to those drugs are provided, where appropriate.
PubChem
Quickly find chemical information from authoritative sources
ChemIDplus
Chemical database is a dictionary of over 400,000 chemicals (names, synonyms, and structures). ChemIDplus includes links to NLM and other databases and resources, including links to federal, state and international agencies.
ChemSpider
ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database providing fast text and structure search access to over 29 million structures from hundreds of data sources.
Clinical Toxinology Resources
The Clinical Toxinology Resources website provides information on venomous animals and poisonous animals, plants, and mushrooms. It covers the whole World, with both general information and information about particular organisms, located through a searchable database, that allows users to look for an animal, plant or mushroom, based on a common name, a scientific name or family, a country or region.
Ecotox
The ECOTOXicology knowledgebase (ECOTOX) is a comprehensive, publicly available knowledgebase providing single chemical environmental toxicity data on aquatic life, terrestrial plants and wildlife.
ExToxNet
EXTOXNET is a cooperative effort of University of California-Davis, Oregon State University, Michigan State University, Cornell University, and the University of Idaho. Primary files are maintained and archived at Oregon State University
NIOSH Pocket Guide
This guide is intended as a source of general industrial hygiene information on several hundred chemicals/classes for workers, employers, and occupational health professionals. The NIOSH Pocket Guide does not contain an analysis of all pertinent data, rather it presents key information and data in abbreviated or tabular form for chemicals or substance groupings that are found in the work environment. The information found in the NIOSH Pocket Guide should help users recognize and control occupational chemical hazards.
PAN Pesticide Database
The Pesticide Action Network's Pesticide Database is your one-stop location for toxicity and regulatory information for pesticides.
Pillbox
Pillbox enables rapid identification of unknown solid-dosage medications (tablets/capsules) based on physical characteristics and high-resolution images. Once a medication is identified, Pillbox provides links to drug information and drug labels.
Toxicant and Disease Database
A searchable database that summarizes links between chemical contaminants and approximately 180 human diseases or conditions. Diseases and toxicants can be viewed by clicking on the disease name, through browsing by disease category, disease name, or toxicant, or by searching by keyword or CAS registry number. Data is collected from major textbooks and through literature searching, references are included.
Toxicology Education Foundation
The Toxicology Education Foundation’s purpose is to encourage, support, and promote charitable and educational activities that increase the public understanding of toxicology.
Toxipedia
Toxipedia is a free toxicology encyclopedia offering articles and resources about toxic chemicals (such as pesticides and endocrine disruptors), health conditions, ethical considerations, the history of toxicology, laws and regulation, and more. Our goal is to provide scientific information in the context of history, society, and culture so that the public has the information needed to make sound choices that protect both human and environmental health.
TOXNET
Databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health, and toxic releases.
ToxTutor
ToxTutor is a self-paced tutorial covering key principles of toxicology for users of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) chemical and toxicology databases. While a knowledge of anatomy and physiology is not required for viewing ToxTutor, the Introduction to the Human Body from the National Cancer Institute provides a good introduction to the topic.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ATSDR serves the public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and diseases related to toxic substances.
AltTox.org
AltTox.org is a website dedicated to advancing non-animal methods of toxicity testing through online discussion and information exchange.
Cal/EPA
The California Environmental Protection Agency is charged with developing, implementing and enforcing the state's environmental protection laws that ensure clean air, clean water, clean soil, safe pesticides and waste recycling and reduction. Our departments are at the forefront of environmental science, using cutting-edge research to shape the state's environmental laws.
Canary Database
The Canary Database contains studies in the biomedical literature that explore the use of animals as "sentinels" for the effects of chemical, biological, and physical hazards in the environment that may be a risk to human health. For each study, curators add information about animal species, exposures, health effects, location, and whether the study includes data providing evidence linking animal sentinel events to human health risk.
Combined Chemical Dictionary
The Combined Chemical Dictionary is a structured database holding information on chemical substances. It includes descriptive and numerical data on chemical, physical and biological properties of compounds; toxicological information; systematic and common names of compounds; literature references; structure diagrams and their associated connection tables.
EPA
Born in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution, EPA was established on December 2, 1970 to ensure environmental protection.
European Chemicals Agency
We, together with our partners, work for the safe use of chemicals.
Immediately Dangerous To Life or Health (IDLH) Values
The Documentation for Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health Concentrations is a compilation of the rationale and sources of information used by NIOSH during the original determination of 387 IDLH values. In addition, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health continues to review, document, and revise the science and methodology behind the existing IDLH values when appropriate, and derive new IDLH values.
National Toxicology Program
The NTP is an interagency program whose mission is to evaluate agents of public health concern by developing and applying tools of modern toxicology and molecular biology. The program maintains an objective, science-based approach in dealing with critical issues in toxicology and is committed to using the best science available to prioritize, design, conduct, and interpret its studies. To that end, the NTP is continually evolving to remain at the cutting edge of scientific research and to develop and apply new technologies.
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
Search this database by chemical name or CAS number to find cancer potency information, acute reference exposure levels, chronic exposure reference levels, California public health goals, Proposition 65 information, and more.
OSHA
OSHA currently regulates exposure to approximately 400 substances. The OSHA Chemical Sampling Information file contains listings for approximately 1500 substances; the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Substance Control Act Chemical Substances Inventory lists information on more than 62,000 chemicals or chemical substances; some libraries maintain files of material safety data sheets for more than 100,000 substances.
Society of Toxicology
Founded in 1961, the Society of Toxicology (SOT) is a professional and scholarly organization of scientists from academic institutions, government, and industry representing the great variety of scientists who practice toxicology in the US and abroad. The Society’s mission is to create a safer and healthier world by advancing the science and increasing the impact of toxicology.
Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment
Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) has provided clients with independent, transparent science since 1995.
WHO
The International Programme on Chemical Safety works to establish the scientific basis for the sound management of chemicals. Chemical safety is achieved by undertaking all activities involving chemicals in such a way as to ensure the safety of human health and the environment. It covers all chemicals, natural and manufactured, and the full range of exposure situations from the natural presence of chemicals in the environment to their extraction or synthesis, industrial production, transport, use and disposal.
Alere Toxicology
Alere Toxicology provides excellent substance abuse testing solutions, providing timely and accurate services that deter and detect drug and alcohol abuse. We are a single-source solution for quality analysis that includes laboratory testing services and point of care testing.
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