Citation:

Description:

ASTER (ASsessment Tools for the Evaluation of Risk) was developed by the U.S. EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division - Duluth (MED-Duluth) to assist regulators in performing ecological risk assessments. ASTER is an integration of the AQUIRE (AQUatic toxicity Information REtrieval) toxic effects database and the QSAR (Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships) system, a structure activity based expert system. ASTER is designed to provide high quality data for discrete chemicals, when available in the associated databases, and QSAR-based estimates when data are lacking. As of October 1996, AQUIRE contains over 145,000 individual test results for 5,982 chemicals and 2,985 freshwater and marine organisms. Over 10,000 published articles were reviewed for this database. The QSAR system includes a database of measured physicochemical properties such as melting point, boiling point, vapor pressure, and water solubility as well as more than 56,000 molecular structures stored as SMILES (Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System) strings for specific chemicals. When empirical data are not available, mechanistically-based predictive models are used to estimate ecotoxicology endpoints, chemical properties, biodegradation, and environmental partitioning.

URLs/Downloads:

A00122.HTML

Record Details:

Record Type:DATA SET

Product Published Date:06/01/1997

Record Last Revised:12/10/2002

Record ID: 2804

Show Additional Record Data

Quality Assurance:

Title :ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR THE EVALUATION OF RISK (ASTER)

Data Use & Constraints :Access Constraints: Access limited to government officials. Password is required to access the system. User Guide is available through the MED-Duluth Scientific Outreach Program. Use Constraints: Utilizes third-party copyrighted software. Agreements have been signed allowing use of copyrighted software by government agencies through the ASTER system. Technical Prerequisites: A computer terminal that supports the DEC extended ANSI standard or a computer that runs software which emulates the behavior of a DEC ANSI terminal such as a VT100 or a VT102. Users of the online version must be with EPA and have either telnet capabilties or access to a PC with communication software and a modem. Kermit communication software will support ASTER graphics emulations. Available Linkage: Contact the MED-Duluth Scientific Outreach Program for information on linkages to the ASTER system.