Significant updates to ECETOC’s Human Exposure Assessment Tools Database
BRUSSELS, 30 July 2018 – Significant new data and tools have been added to ECETOC’s Human Exposure Assessment Tools Database (heatDB) following a recent update.
heatDB gathers together all publicly available sources of human exposure data, as well as assessment tools, then structures and categorises them into a harmonised system. Freely available on the ECETOC website, it enables risk assessors to review quickly what data sources and tools are available for any given purpose and then provides guidance on their appropriate use using a tiering system.
heatDB covers biomonitoring, cosmetics and personal care, foods, generic human exposure factors, household products and other consumer products.
As part of the latest update, a comprehensive web search – using the search engine PubMed[1], provided by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) – looked at all existing literature, databases and projects on human exposure. Multiple expert teams then collectively reviewed each new data source and tool in each of the product categories for content, relevance and overall quality.
The review found 63 new data sources and seven new tools which have now been added to heatDB. In addition, 10 existing data sources and 1 tool were delisted from heatDB, either because of outdated hyperlinks, duplication, or if an updated version of the data source was available. Overall, heatDB was increased from 182 to 235 data sources and from 41 to 47 tools.
ECETOC Secretary General Olivier de Matos said: “Our mission at ECETOC is to provide practical and realistic scientific solutions that are valuable to industry, to the regulatory community and to society in general. The heatDB is a great example of a very practical knowledge base, shared freely on our website, which is an invaluable tool for industry and regulators.”
Users can register for free, login and use the heatDB as required. There is a highly responsive search engine which provides instant results and the tool also includes a message board where users can leave suggestions for improvements to the database, or identify new data sources and tools to include in future versions.
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NOTE TO EDITORS
For more information, contact Ian Cummings
Tel: +32 (0)2 675 3600
Email: ian.cummings@ecetoc.org
ABOUT ECETOC
ECETOC is a collaborative space for top scientists from industry, academia and governments to develop and promote practical, trusted and sustainable solutions to scientific challenges which are valuable to industry, as well as to the regulatory community and society in general.