Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs)

Pharmaceutical Databases

US EPA's ECOTOX

Ecotox is a comprehensive web-based database, compiled and maintained by Office of Research and Development's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (ORD/NHEERL), that provides information on effects of chemicals on ecologically-relevant species.

The majority of data in ECOTOX are abstracted from peer-reviewed and gray literature sources. Pertinent information on species, chemicals, test methods and test results are encoded into discrete data fields within the database. ECOTOX also includes third-party data collections from the EPA program offices, the United States Geologic Survey, Russia, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member nations. The data collections summarize research that are either not available in the open literature or published in a language other than English.

ECOTOX currently includes more than 520,000 test results on the effects of more than 8,500 chemicals, including PPCPs, on over 6,400 terrestrial and aquatic species. The coding of each parameter in discrete data fields allows users to conduct searches on a variety of information types including taxonomic hierarchy, chemical identification information, effect/endpoints, test location, exposure media, route of chemical exposure, and publication information. The full citation is provided for all test records within a query report. In addition to the HTML viewable outputs, search results can be downloaded to either ASCII delimited or Excel file formats. New data are released on a quarterly-basis. The comprehensive nature of the data collection makes it amenable for use in risk assessments, modeling, and ranking and prioritization exercises.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER):

• Information about products regulated by CDER
• Maximum Recommended Therapeutic Dose (MRTD) Database

Pharmaceuticals in the Environment, Information for Assessing Risk - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) This is designed to provide available information for assessing risks to aquatic resources from drugs entering waterways from both point and non-point sources. This site includes information on frequently prescribed drugs as well as most antibiotics and lipid-lowering drugs. You can search the database by:

• Chemical Abstract Service Registry Number
• Name of Contaminant
• Molecular Formula
• Pharmaceutical Type

NLM's MedLine Plus Health Information - includes medical dictionary with pronunciations

RxList: The Top 200 Prescriptions  

Drug Information Online  - Prescription & OTC Drug information for consumers and professionals.

MediLexicon: Acronyms and Abbreviations Dictionary of Pharmaceutical Medicine 

Lexi-Comp's Clinical Reference Library  - information on new and anticipated drugs

PharmGKB Search - Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base: Stanford University 

OSIRIS Property Explorer: Drug-Relevant Properties (Actelion) 

Top of page

Veterinary Medicine

U.S. FDA's "Green Book" of Approved Animal Drugs

Database of Approved Animal Drug Products FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, Vermont 

Top of page

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

U.S. EPA, Office of Water, Office of Wastewater Management: Animal Feeding Operations

U.S. EPA, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) - Final Rule

Ground Water and Ecosystems Restoration Research Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO)

U.S. FDA, Center for Veterinary Medicine

"Animal Factories: Pollution and Health Threats to Rural Texas" (Consumers Union) 

Top of page

Aquaculture

U.S. EPA Effluent Limitations Guidelines and New Source Performance Standards for the Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production Point Source Category

U.S. EPA  Aquatic Animal Production Industry Effluent Guidelines

Aquaculture Drug Research and Development from USGS/BRD Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC)

• Fishery Drug and Development: Reports of Progess

SeaWeb Aquaculture Resources 

Antibiotic Drug Use in U.S. Aquaculture (C.M. Benbrook, February 2002) 

Top of page

Antibiotics: Prudent/Judicious Use

Antimicrobial Resistance - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Antibiotic Resistance:  A Growing Threat - U.S. FDA

Antibiotic Resistance  - Center for Science in the Public Interest - CSPI. Discusses concerns about the proliferation of antibiotic use by human and agricultural use creating anitbiotic resistence.

Evaluation of the Termination of the Use of Antimicrobial Growth Promoters in Denmark (November 2002)  - from the World Health Organization (WHO) International Review Panel.

Drug resistance  - WHO Report on Infectious Diseases

Generally Overlooked Fundamentals of Bacterial Genetics and Ecology 

The Need to Improve Antimicrobial Use in Agriculture: Ecological and Human Health Consequences  - Journal: Clinical Infectious Diseases 2002, 34[suppl 3])

Superbugs - the problem of antimicrobial resistance - UK's National Institute of Medical Research

Top of page

Personal Care Products

Household Products Database: Health & Safety Information on Household Products - National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine

Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Publications List 

Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM)  - The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) evaluates and distributes scientific data on the safety assessment of fragrance raw materials found in perfumes, cosmetics, shampoos, creams, detergents, air fresheners, candles and otherpersonal and household products.

European Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association 

Japan Cosmetic Industry Association 

The Soap and Detergent Association  - Enhancing health and the quality of life through cleaning products and practices. SDA programs address a variety of human health and environmental safety issues from several perspectives.

International Fragrance Association  - The primary focus is the worldwide development and advancement of the fragrance industry. The organization has established and seeks to preserve the self-regulatory practices of the international fragrance industry. This occurs through the development and implementation of a Code of Practice and safety standards utilized worldwide with the final objective to protect the consumer and the environment.

Fragranced Products Information Network  - A comprehensive web site on health, environmental, and regulatory aspects related to fragrance

Top of page

Nutraceuticals and Phytochemicals

International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) Database  Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health. The International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) database provides access to bibliographic citations and abstracts from published, international, and scientific literature on dietary supplements.

Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanial Databases (USDA-ARS)

Top of page

PPCP Monitoring Programs

USGS Toxics Substance Hydrology Program:
What's in Our Wastewaters and Where Does it Go?

Extended Producer/Product Responsibility (EPR) & Product Stewardship

U.S. EPA: Product Stewardship

Top of page

State and Local Disposal Programs

• Disposal of Unwanted Medicines: A Resource for Action in Your Community - Illinois - Indiana Sea Grant
• List of take-back programs around the nation - from the Teleosis Institute

Top of page

Government Regulatory Bodies

Portal to accessing (and commenting on) Federal regulations

U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

• Environmental Assessment of Human Drug and Biologics Applications - U.S. FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)
• Environmental Assessments (EAs), Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSIs), and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) - U.S. FDA CVM (Center for Veterinary Medicine)

U.S. EPA Major Environmental Laws

U.S. EPA: Development Document for Final Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Point Source Category

U.S. EPA: Envirofacts Data Warehouse and Applications

U.S. EPA: Environmental Data Registry

Drugs and Personal Care Products  - Health Canada