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Identifying and curating ecologically-relevant toxicity data with the ECOTOXicology Knowledgebase literature search and review processes.
Citation:
Elonen, C., J. Olker, A. Anderson, A. Pomplun, B. Kinziger, C. Suomi, T. Karschnik, A. Pilli, AND D. Hoff. Identifying and curating ecologically-relevant toxicity data with the ECOTOXicology Knowledgebase literature search and review processes. SETAC North America, Toronto, ON, CANADA, November 03 - 07, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
The ECOTOX Knowledgebase is a comprehensive, publicly available application providing chemical environmental toxicity data on aquatic life, terrestrial plants and wildlife compiled from over 48,000 references covering over 11,000 chemicals and over 12,000 species. ECOTOX data are used for all ecological risk assessments supporting pesticide registrations and re-registrations, all ambient water quality criteria for chemicals published since 1985, site-specific water quality criteria (by EPA Regions, States, and Tribes), and assessments used in emergency response. ECOTOX has established standard operating procedures that meet requirements for Agency systematic reviews of available information for use in Agency decision making. This presentation describes the literature search and acquisition process, and the resultant data extraction process with several recent examples of chemicals of concern to the Agency. In addition, this presentation describes how recent updates to the ECOTOX user interface and interfacing with other databases provide improved support for environmental research and risk assessment.
Description:
The ECOTOXicology Knowledgebase (ECOTOX, http://www.epa.gov/ecotox/) is a nationally and internationally recognized source of curated single-chemical toxicity data for aquatic life, terrestrial plants, and wildlife. This publicly available database provides private industries, federal and state regulators, and researchers with a cost-effective, non-duplicative means of locating high-quality ecological effects data to support chemical decision making. Through its 30+ year history, ECOTOX has developed systematic and transparent procedures to conduct comprehensive literature searches, title/abstract screening to identify references that meet ECOTOX applicability and initial acceptance criteria (e.g., ecologically-relevant species, verifiable CASRN, endpoint and control reported), and data extraction of all pertinent study and effects information (e.g., species, chemicals, test methods and conditions, toxicity results). Currently, the ECOTOX Knowledgebase includes data for more than 11,000 chemicals from over 48,000 references, with additional data uploaded quarterly. This well-established protocol is completed for 35-50 chemicals each year, as requested by various Program Offices. Some recent data updates were: a) Aluminum for EPA’s Office of Water, b) Uranium for the Office of Land and Emergency Management, c) Ziram for OCSPP’s Office of Pesticide Programs, d) Decabromodiphenyl ethers for the Risk Assessment Division in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, and e) over 250 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for the Office of Research and Development and others. The curated data within ECOTOX can be searched and refined by 19 parameters (e.g. Species, Chemical, Effect, Control, Year, etc.), with customized output selections from over 100 data fields for users’ specific applications. These data results are readily available for use in scoping reviews, evidence mapping, systematic reviews, risk assessments, and regulatory decisions. Updated and enhanced functionality was recently added to the ECOTOX user interface, with interactive queries and data visualization capabilities; and efforts are on-going to enhance the interoperability with other databases and tools such that environmental regulatory agencies, the regulated industry, and researchers can more effectively and efficiently search and use existing toxic effects data.