Until December 2001 the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances
(RTECS) was a database of toxicological information compiled, maintained, and
updated by NIOSH. RTECS was a congressionally mandated activity established by
Section 20(a)(6) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 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
chemicals. Since that time, the list was continuously grown and updated, and its
name changed to the current title, "Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical
Substances." As of January 2001, the last update of the database by NIOSH, RTECS
contained 152,970 chemicals as NIOSH strived to fulfill the mandate to list "all
known toxic substances... and the concentrations at which... toxicity is known
to occur." Many consider RTECS the premier toxicological database.
RTECS is a compendium of data extracted from the open scientific literature. The
data are recorded in the format developed by the RTECS staff and arranged in
alphabetical order by prime chemical name. Six types of toxicity data are
included in the file: (1) primary irritation; (2) mutagenic effects; (3)
reproductive effects; (4) tumorigenic effects; (5) acute toxicity; and (6) other
multiple dose toxicity. Specific numeric toxicity values such as LD50, LC50,
TDLo, and TCLo are noted as well as species studied and route of administration
used. For each citation, the bibliographic source is listed thereby enabling the
user to access the actual studies cited. No attempt has been made to evaluate
the studies cited in RTECS. The user has the responsibility of making such
assessments.