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Fact Sheet
TOXNET®: Toxicology Data Network

TOXNET® (TOXicology Data NETwork) is a group of databases covering chemicals and drugs, diseases and the environment, environmental health, occupational safety and health, poisoning, risk assessment and regulations, and toxicology. It is managed by the Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) in the Division of Specialized Information Services (SIS) of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). A mobile version of TOXNET is available.

Use TOXNET to find:

  • Specific chemicals, mixtures, and products
  • Chemical nomenclature
  • Chemicals that may be associated with a disease, condition or symptom
  • Chemicals associated with consumer products, occupations, hobbies, and more
  • Special toxic effects of chemicals in humans and/or animals
  • Citations from the scientific literature 

TOXNET provides links to PubMed®, NLM's free web interface to the world's biomedical literature, and to additional sources of toxicological information.

Chemical Nomenclature and Structure

ChemIDplus®

ChemIDplus contains over 400,000 chemical records. More than 300,000 of those records include chemical structures. ChemIDplus is searchable by Name, Synonym, CAS Registry Number, Molecular Formula, Classification Code, Locator Code, Structure, and/or Physical properties. Enhanced structure display is available in ChemIDplus Advanced.

Toxicology Data

CCRIS (Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System)

CCRIS is developed and maintained by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). It contains over 9,000 chemical records with carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, tumor promotion, and tumor inhibition test results. Data are derived from studies cited in primary journals, current awareness tools, NCI reports, and other special sources. Test results have been reviewed by experts in carcinogenesis and mutagenesis. 

CCRIS provides historical information from the years 1985 - 2011. It is no longer updated.

CPDB (Carcinogenic Potency Database)

CPDB provides standardized analyses of the results of 6540 chronic, long-term animal cancer tests conducted since the 1950s and reported in the general published literature or by the National Cancer Institute and the National Toxicology Program. This database was developed at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

CPDB provides historical information from the years 1980 - 2011. It is no longer updated.

CTD (Comparative Toxicogenomics Database)

CTD contains manually curated data describing cross-species chemical-gene/protein interactions and chemical- and gene-disease relationships. The results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying variable susceptibility and environmentally influenced diseases. These data will also provide insights into complex chemical-gene and protein interaction networks. CTD is developed with funding from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) at North Carolina State University (NCSU). The database is updated several times a year.

GENE-TOX (Genetic Toxicology)

GENE-TOX was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and has genetic toxicology test results on over 3,200 chemicals. Selected literature was reviewed by scientific experts for each of the test systems under evaluation.

GENE-TOX provides historical information from the years 1991-1998.  It is no longer updated.

HSDB® (Hazardous Substances Data Bank)

HSDB provides toxicity data for over 5,800 potentially hazardous chemicals. It also has information on emergency handling procedures, industrial hygiene, environmental fate, human exposure, detection methods, and regulatory requirements. The data are fully referenced and reviewed by a Scientific Review Panel.

Haz-Map®

Haz-Map is an occupational health database designed for health and safety professionals and for consumers seeking information about the health effects of exposure to chemicals and biological agents. The database is a "map" of workplace hazards to help you prevent occupational diseases. Haz-Map links jobs, hazardous tasks with occupational diseases and their symptoms, and other non-occupational diseases such as hobbies.

Household Products Database

The Household Products Database has information on the potential health effects of chemicals contained in common products used inside and around the home. Information is also available for some industrial grade products. Products can be searched by brand name, product type, manufacturer, ingredient/chemical name, and by health effects. The record for each product shows the ingredients as reported by the manufacturer. For many products, a link to the manufacturer’s Safety Data Sheet (formerly Material Safety Data Sheet) is provided which includes more information such as handling, disposal, and health effects.

IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System)

IRIS, developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is a human health assessment program that evaluates information on health effects (cancer and non-cancer) that may result from exposure to environmental contaminants, and which is subsequently compiled into a database. Reviewed by EPA scientists and representing EPA consensus, IRIS covers over 550 chemicals.

ITER (International Toxicity Estimates for Risk)

ITER provides health risk values and cancer classifications from authoritative groups worldwide for chemicals of environmental concern. It presents risk data in a tabular format for easy comparison between organizations, and includes synopses explaining data variations where they exist. ITER also has links to source documentation and more details. It is compiled by Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA).

LactMed® (Drugs and Lactation)

LactMed is a database of over 1,000 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. All data are derived from the scientific literature and fully referenced. Data are organized into substance-specific records, which provide a summary of the pertinent reported information and include links to other NLM databases. Supplemental links to breastfeeding resources from credible organizations are also provided. LactMed is updated monthly.

TRI (Toxics Release Inventory)

TRI is a set of publicly available databases containing information on releases of specific toxic chemicals and their management as waste, as reported annually to the EPA by U.S. industrial and federal facilities. This inventory was established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA). TRI's data, beginning with the 1987 reporting year, covers air, water, land, and underground injection releases, as well as transfers to waste sites. In agreement with the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990, source reduction and recycling data is also included in TRI.

TOXMAP®

TOXMAP is a Geographic Information System (GIS) using maps of the United States to show the amount and location of toxic chemicals released into the environment. Data is derived from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), which provides information on the releases of toxic chemicals into the environment as reported annually by industrial facilities around the United States. TOXMAP also contains information from the EPA's Superfund Program.

Toxicology Literature

TOXLINE®

TOXLINE provides bibliographic information (1840s to present) covering the biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals. It contains over 5 million references, most with abstracts, indexing terms, and Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry Numbers. The toxicology subset of MEDLINE®/PubMed is part of TOXLINE. TOXLINE also contains references from specialized journals, government reports, meeting abstracts, and other relevant collections of toxicology literature.

DART® (Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Database)

DART contains references to reproductive and developmental toxicology literature. DART is created from a search profile run against PubMed. DART previously contained additional citations from various sources that no longer exist, and from journals which are now indexed by Medline.

For detailed information on TOXNET, contact:

Specialized Information Services
National Library of Medicine
Two Democracy Plaza, Suite 510
6707 Democracy Boulevard, MSC 5467
Bethesda, MD 20892-5467
Telephone: (301) 496-1131
e-mail: tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov
URL: https://sis.nlm.nih.gov

For general information on NLM services, contact:

National Library of Medicine
Customer Service
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
Telephone: 1-888-FINDNLM (1-888-346-3656)
e-mail: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/contacts/contact.html
NLM Customer Service Form at Contact NLM

A complete list of NLM Fact Sheets is available at:
(alphabetical list) https://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsheets.html
(subject list): https://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsubj.html

Or write to:

FACT SHEETS
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland 20894

Phone: (301) 496-6308
Fax: (301) 496-4450
email: publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov