Toxicity information

In general, the acute toxicity of halogenated flame retardants is quite low. Tables 11—14 contain acute toxicity information from various manufacturers material safety data sheets (MSDS) for some of the flame retardants and intermediates Hsted in the previous tables. The latest MSDS should always be requested from the suppHer in order to be assured of having up-to-date information about the toxicity of the products as well as recommendations regarding safe handling. 

The Brominated Flame Retardants Industry Panel (BFRIP) was formed ia 1985 within the Flame Retardant Chemicals Association (FRCA) to address such concerns about the use of decabromodiphenyl oxide. Siace 1990 the BFRIP has operated as a Chemical Self-Funded Technical Advocacy and Research (CHEMSTAR) panel within the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) (64). As of 1993, members of BFRIP are Ak2o, Amerihaas (Dead Sea Bromine Group), Ethyl Corp., and Great Lakes Chemical. Siace its formation, BFRIP has presented updates to iadustry on a regular basis (65,66), and has pubhshed a summary of the available toxicity information on four of the largest volume brominated flame retardants (67,68) tetrabromo bisphenol A, pentabromodiphenyl oxide, octabromodiphenyl oxide, and decabromodiphenyl oxide. This information supplements that summarized ia Table 11. 

Although there is Httle toxicity information pubHshed on hydrides, a threshold limit value (TLV) for lithium hydride in air of 25 fig/has been established (52). More extensive data are available (53) for sodium borohydride in the powder and solution forms. The acute oral LD q of NaBH is 50-100 mg/kg for NaBH and 50-1000 mg/kg for the solution. The acute dermal LD q (on dry skin) is 4-8 g/kg for NaBH and 100-500 mg/kg for the solution. The reaction or decomposition by-product sodium metaborate is slightly toxic orally (LD q is 2000-4000 mg/kg) and nontoxic dermally. 

Toxicity information Toxic hazard rating Hygiene standard (e.g. OLE, TLV) Maximum allowable concentration (MAC) Lethal concentration (LC50) Lethal dose (LD50) ... 

State Emergency Response Commission Maryland Department of the Environment Toxics Information Center 2500 Broening Highway Baltimore, MD 21224 ... 

Provides pollutant toxicity information and optimal response strategy. 

AQUIRE - Aquatic Toxicity Information Retrieval Database... 

Dose-Response Evaluation The process of quantitatively evaluating toxicity information and characterizing the relationship between the dose a contaminant administered or received, and the incidence of adverse health effects in the exposed population. From a quantitative dose-respoiise relationship, toxicity values can be derived that are used in the risk characterization step to estimate the likelihood of adverse effects occurring in humans at different exposure levels. 

Integrated Risk Infonnation System (IRIS) A USEPA data base containing verified RfDs and slope factors and up-to-date health risk and EPA regulatory information for numerous chemicals. IRIS is the USEPA s preferred source for toxicity information for Superfund studics/projects. 

Toxicity information for many of the chemicals found at Superflmd sites is... 

Thus, tlie focus of tliis subsection is on qualitative/semiquantitative approaches tliat can yield useful information to decision-makers for a limited resource investment. There are several categories of uncertainties associated with site risk assessments. One is tlie initial selection of substances used to characterize exposures and risk on tlie basis of the sampling data and available toxicity information. Oilier sources of uncertainty are inlierent in tlie toxicity values for each substance used to characterize risk. Additional micertainties are inlierent in tlie exposure assessment for individual substances and individual exposures. These uncertainties are usually driven by uncertainty in tlie chemical monitoring data and tlie models used to estimate exposure concentrations in tlie absence of monitoring data, but can also be driven by population intake parameters. As described earlier, additional micertainties are incorporated in tlie risk assessment when exposures to several substances across multiple patliways are suimned. 

Lack of exposure data for most organotins together with limited toxicity information for marine organisms preclude the calculation of risk factors for the marine environment. For dibutyltin, measured concentrations in seawater reflect the use of tributyltin as a marine anti-foulant rather than the use of dibutyltin in plastics. It is therefore not possible to conduct a reliable risk assessment for the current uses of the compormd. 

NATICH. 1988. National Air Toxics Information Clearinghouse (database) Report on state, local, and EPA air toxics activities. Research Triangle Park, NC U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. July, 1988. EPA 450/5-88-007. 

The data in animals are insufficient to derive an acute inhalation MRL because serious effects were observed at the lowest dose tested (Hoechst 1983a). No acute oral MRL was derived for the same reason. The available toxicokinetic data are not adequate to predict the behavior of endosulfan across routes of exposure. However, the limited toxicity information available does indicate that similar effects are observed (i.e., death, neurotoxicity) in both animals and humans across all routes of exposure, but the concentrations that cause these effects may not be predictable for all routes. Most of the acute effects of endosulfan have been well characterized following exposure via the inhalation, oral, and dermal routes in experimental animals, and additional information on the acute effects of endosulfan does not appear necessary. However, further well conducted developmental studies may clarify whether this chemical causes adverse developmental effects. 

The Ecotox database provides single chemical toxicity information for aquatic and terrestial life. This is a useful tool for evaluating the impact of chemicals on the environment. 

Commercial service that provides chemical information for US and Global regulations. Contains chemical, physical and toxicity information. The database includes generic chemical names and commercial chemical names. 

Chemical structural information is one of the missing pieces in the great effort to bring biomedical research into the realm of twenty-first century information extraction and knowledge discovery paradigms. Proteins, genes, diseases, and chemical compounds constitute the major entities extracted in the biomedical domain. The ability to read structure information and substructure information and their association to other entities could have a major impact on toxicity information in particular and ADMET data in general. 

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