Narrator: The Hazardous Substances Data Bank, called HSDB, is one of the primary databases in TOXNET.
HSDB provides comprehensive peer-reviewed data on over five thousand substances.
It contains excerpts from the published literature on human health effects and exposure, emergency medical treatment, standards and regulations, safety and handling procedures, and environmental fate.
Data in HSDB come from a core set of books, government documents, technical reports, selected primary journal literature, and electronic sources.
HSDB is reviewed by the Scientific Review Panel, a committee of experts in the major subject areas that HSDB covers.
You can search all the TOXNET databases from the home page [http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov] and select HSDB from the results or you can choose HSDB from the list of databases to search only HSDB.
Enter your search terms in the query box.
You can search a single term, multiple terms or phrases.
For example if you want information on the herbicide, Roundup, enter roundup in the query box.
[The word roundup is typed into the TOXNET search box and the Search button is clicked.]
HSDB retrieves all chemical records containing that word.
[A page displaying a list of chemical records appears on the screen. The first record in the list is Glyphosate Isopropylamine Salt and its synonym is Roundup.]
The first record is the primary record for Roundup.
Click on this chemical to see the complete HSDB record
For chemicals, HSDB automatically searches the term you entered, as well as synonyms, trade names, and associated Chemical Abstracts Registry Numbers.
Click on Search Details to see terms that were automatically added to your search.
[A page showing the synonyms, trade names and Chemical Abstracts Registry Numbers related to Roundup appears on the screen.]
HSDB always shows Human Health Effects first when the record appears on the screen.
HSDB records are organized into three sections.
The top section contains the navigation buttons.
Use these to download or print, save results to My List, navigate within HSDB or see what other database have information on your search topic.
The second section is the Table of Contents which lists the specific areas of the chemical record.
And the third section, on the right side of the screen, shows the all the information about a chemical displayed in order of the left side Table of Contents.
Information about the source of a particular statement is shown in green, within brackets and in a shaded area below the statement.
You can also search by phrase which helps you find information within a chemical record
For example, if you're interested in learning about the effects of the chemical TCE on children, enter the terms separated by a space.
[The words TCE children are typed into the TOXNET search box and the Search button is clicked]
[A page displaying a list of chemical records appears. The first record in the list is Trichloroethylene and its synonym is TCE.]
HSDB retrieves the primary record for TCE, trichloroethylene.
The record opens to the section on Human Health Effects.
To see your search terms, click Closest Match to Search Terms.
Your search terms are highlighted in yellow and bolded.
You can download the full record or choose one or more categories.
[The link labeled Print is clicked]
Depending on your browser, the saved data will either appear in the browser or a dialog box will appear.
[A browser dialog box appears on the screen. The Download button is clicked.]
Name the file and save as either a text or html file.
Due to the format of HSDB records they cannot be imported into bibliographic management programs such as EndNote.
Be aware that some HSDB records may be many pages long.
[The browser dialog box is closed and the words HSDB Home are clicked to return to the HSDB search box.]
Use Advanced Search to restrict retrieval to specific parts of a chemical's record.
[The Advanced Search tab is clicked on and a new page appears displaying options for restricting a search to a specific part of the HSDB chemical record.]
To search for the word lung in the Evidence of Carcinogenicity section
Type in lung and then click the check-box next to the Evidence for Carcinogenicity.
[The word lung is typed into the HSDB search box and the box next to the words Evidence for Carcinogenicity is selected. Then the Search button is clicked. A list of chemical records appears and the first record in the list is selected]
Then click on Closest Match to Search Term and you'll see the word lung highlighted and in bold within the Evidence for Carcinogenicity section
[The words Closest Match to Search Term appear in the Table of Contents and are selected. The Evidence for Carcinogenicity section appears in the center of the screen. The words HSDB Home are clicked to return to the HSDB main page.]
Use an * when you want to find variants of a term.
carcinogen* retrieves carcinogen, carcinogenic, and carcinogenicity.
[The word carcinogen* is typed into the HSDB search box and the Search button is clicked. A list of chemical records appears and the first record in the list is selected. The words Closest Match to Search Term appear in the Table of Contents and are selected. The words carcinogen, carcinogenic and carcinogenicity appear in bold and highlighted in yellow in a paragraph displayed in the center of the screen.]
[The words HSDB Home are clicked to return to the HSDB main page. The Browse HSDB tab is selected.]
You can Browse HSDB by single words, CAS Registry Numbers, or chemical names.
This example shows browsing HSDB for naphtha.
After choosing the words that you want, click Search.
[The word naphtha is entered into the search box and a list of suggested terms appears below the search box. Several terms are selected and the Search button is clicked. A page of results appears.]
This returns a list of records containing the selected word or Registry Number.
HSDB Help answers some of the most common questions you may have.
You can reach it from any part of the database by clicking on Help and then choosing Chemical Databases Help
Need more help?
You can contact us via the e-mail or phone number shown on the screen. E-mail: Phone: 1-301-496-1131