Part of The Alchemist's Lair
Web Site
Maintained by Harry E. Pence, Professor of Chemistry, SUNY Oneonta, for
the use of his students. Any opinions are totally coincidental and have
no official endorsement, including the people who sign my pay checks. Comments
and suggestions are welcome (pencehe@oneonta.edu).
Last Revised January 23, 2004
The definition of hazardous chemicals is found in OSHA's Hazard Communication
standard,
29 CFR 1910.1200
and 29
CFR 1926.59.
There is a wealth of information on NFPA ratings available on the NFPA Hazard Site.
If you page down a little, you will find links to alphabetic listings of
NFPA ratings for a wide variety of chemical. Close to the bottom of the
page is further information about the various ratings.
The University of Kentucky maintains an excellent site with links to Where to find MSDS sheets on
the Internet. This page begins with a general discussion of MSDS sheets,
but if you page down you will find over 30 sites, most of which are clickable.
Don't just pick a site randomly! Look at the available number of MSDS sheets,
and be sure that the site is extensive enough to provide a good chance that
you search will be successful. Near the bottom of the page are good links
to Univ. of Kentucky pages that deal with fires in the chemical laboratory
and waste disposal.
The Environmental Chemicals
Data and Information Network (ECDIN) allows you to search for chemical
information based on the CAS number, the name, or the molecular formula.
The Extension Toxicology
Network (EXTOXNET)
describes itself as an objective, science-based source of information about
pesticides.
The National Parks Service ( in cooperation with Colorado State University) has created an Environmental Contaminants Encyclopedia. It is a very extensive listing of information, which has some omissions, but is still very useful. The main focus is environmental toxicology rather than human toxicology.
In this country, information about known or suspected carcinogens is summarized in the Report on Carcinogens, which is organized by the National Toxicology Program. This site also provides a listing of all chemicals identified as known or suspected carcinogens by the United States Government.
The International Agency for Research on Carcinogens, commonly called IARC, is part of the World Health Organization. IARC's mission is "to coordinate and conduct research on the causes of human cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and to develop scientific strategies for cancer control." IARC publishes a series of monographs that contain assessments of the carcinogenic risks posed to humans by more than 800 agents, mixtures and exposures. The Complete List of Agents, Mixtures and Exposures Evaluated and their Classification is available.
Individual sections of the Toxic Release Inventory Report ("Community Right to Know Law") is a site that contains information about various classes of toxic chemicals that used, manufactured, or transported in this country, including the potential human health risks to those who are exposed to these chemicals.
Oncolink is a resource provided the the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Research Center. It has a number of useful links including recent news articles about cancer and the editor's choice of the best cancer-related sites on the web.
The Nethealth site serves as a guide to health, fitness and medical information on the Internet. It may contain some excellent links to information about specific diseases
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The National Library of Medicine maintains MEDLARS,
a compendium of 40 online data bases and over 18 million references. . In order
to search these data base, you will need a NLM User Code and some training is
recommended
ChemID (Chemical
Identification File) includes over 335,000 chemical substances from the National
Library of Medicine (NLM) databases.
CHEMLINE
(Chemical Dictionary Online) is am on-line, interactive chemical dictionary
based on the NLM files and the EPA Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory.
TOXLINE (Toxicology
Information Online) and TOXLIT (Toxicology
Literature from Special Sources) are bibliographic databases of over 4 million
citations, that
provide pharmacological, biochemical, physiological, and toxicological effects
of drugs
and other chemicals.
HSDB (Hazardous
Substances Data Bank) contains extensive information on the
toxicity, environmental fate, waste disposal methods, emergency handling procedures,
and regulatory requirements for over 4500 chemicals.
RTECS (Registry
of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances) is the listing of health hazards maintained
by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that includes
over 130,000 chemicals.
CCRIS (Chemical
Carcinogenesis Research Information System) is a survey of the carcinogenic
activity of over 7000 chemicals. It is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.
GENE-TOX
is a peer reviewed EPA data bank of the genetic toxicology test
results for about 3,000 chemicals.
IRIS (Integrated
Risk Information System) is another EPA online database that contains carcinogenic
and non-carcinogenic health risk assessment and regulatory information on over
600 chemicals. It also contains EPA Drinking Water Health information.
TRI (Toxic Chemical
Release Inventory) is an EPA database that provides the annual
estimated releases of over 300 chemicals to the environment, including the names
and
addresses of the facilities, and the disposition of the chemicals they released.
Alternatives to Animal Testing
The Center for Alternatives to Animal
Testing (CAAT) at Johns Hopkins Univ. provides an excellent set of links to sites concerned
with animal test and related topics.