Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) is a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

toxicity Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacteria, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect o ...

information compiled from the open

scientific literature Scientific literature encompasses a vast body of academic papers that spans various disciplines within the natural and social sciences. It primarily consists of academic papers that present original empirical research and theoretical ...

without reference to the validity or usefulness of the studies reported. Until 2001 it was maintained by US

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, ) is the List of United States federal agencies, United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related occ ...

(NIOSH) as a freely available publication. It is now maintained by the private company

BIOVIA BIOVIA is a software company headquartered in the United States, with representation in Europe and Asia. It provides software for chemical, materials and bioscience research for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer packaged goods, aerosp ...

Six types of toxicity data are included in the file: # Primary

irritation Irritation, in biology and physiology, is a state of inflammation or painful reaction to allergy or cell-lining damage. A stimulus or agent which induces the state of irritation is an irritant. Irritants are typically thought of as chemical age ...

Mutagenic In genetics, a mutagen is a physical or chemical agent that permanently changes genetic material, usually DNA, in an organism and thus increases the frequency of mutations above the natural background level. As many mutations can cause cancer in ...

effects #

Reproductive The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are al ...

effects #

Tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

igenic effects # Acute toxicity # Other multiple dose toxicity Specific numeric toxicity values such as , LC₅₀, TDLo, and TCLo are noted as well as

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

studied and the

route of administration In pharmacology and toxicology, a route of administration is the way by which a medication, drug, fluid, poison, or other substance is taken into the body. Routes of administration are generally classified by the location at which the substance ...

used. For all data the bibliographic source is listed. The studies are not evaluated in any way.

History

RTECS was an activity mandated by the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

, established by Section 20(a)(6) of the

Occupational Safety and Health Act The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is a US labor law governing the federal law of occupational health and safety in the private sector and federal government in the United States. It was enacted by Congress in 1970 and was signed b ...

of 1970 (PL 91-596). The original edition, known as the ''Toxic Substances List'' was published on June 28, 1971, and included toxicological data for approximately 5,000

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

s. The name changed later to its current name ''Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances''. In 2000, NIOSH solicited proposals to transfer the RTECS trademark and database to a private company, and in December 2001 RTECS was transferred from NIOSH to the private company MDL, a subsidiary of

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers,

Dassault Systèmes Dassault Systèmes SE () (abbreviated 3DS) is a French Multinational corporation, multinational software corporation which develops software for 3D product design, simulation, manufacturing and other 3D related products. Founded in 1981, it is ...

acquired the database and, as of 2025, licenses RTECS through its

brand. RTECS is also available through 3rd party distributors like the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and safety which sells licenses for English and French versions of RTECS.

References

External links

{{Wikidata property, P657
RTECS overview
Biochemistry databases Chemical safety Chemical databases Health sciences publications Toxic effects of substances chiefly nonmedicinal as to source

Contents

History

References

External links