Information resources in the field of toxicity and danger of chemicals as a modern tool of preventive toxicology

This article examines the history of the development of databases and national registries of chemical substances formed to implement programs to protect the environment and public health. A review of modern information retrieval systems is given that provide access to data about the physicochemical, toxicological and hygienic properties of chemicals. The functionality of the studied systems was assessed for the completeness of information about chemicals, their properties, effects on the body of warm-blooded animals, ecotoxicity, and use. The review was carried out using the following databases: Register of toxic effects of chemical compounds RTECS; Risk Assessment Information System (RAIS); PubChem; eChemPortal; ChemSpider; CompTox Chemistry Dashboard. The analysis showed the databases to contain a large amount of data on the characteristics of various chemical compounds. However, each database has its own specifics and requires certain skills when searching for the necessary information, which significantly complicates this procedure and affects the speed of processing the information received. In this regard, at the moment there is a need to develop a software product, the functionality of which will allow searching for the necessary information in all publicly available chemical substance databases. Automation of information and analytical activities will make it possible to significantly reduce the time spent working with various resources when conducting federal state sanitary and epidemiological surveillance and medical care for workers with particularly hazardous working conditions. Centre for Strategic Planning, of the Federal medical and biological agency is working to create a new software product “Hygienic Characteristics”, which will contain all the basic information about the toxicity of chemicals.

Contribution:
Lebed-Sharlevich Ya.I., Manaeva E.S. — collection and processing of material, writing a text, editing;
Potapchenko T.D. — editing.
All authors are responsible for the concept and design of the study, integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study was carried out as a part of the state assignment (code: Chemical safety).

Received: July 5, 2024 / Revised: October 11, 2024 / Accepted: October 15, 2024 / Published: November 19, 2024

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