Standartox: Standardizing Toxicity Data

• Main Authors: Andreas Scharmüller, Verena C. Schreiner, Ralf B. Schäfer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
• Series: Data
• Subjects: ecotoxicology; standardization; environmental risk assessment; effect database; database; software
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/5/2/46

An increasing number of chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides and synthetic hormones are in daily use all over the world. In the environment, chemicals can adversely affect populations and communities and in turn related ecosystem functions. To evaluate the risks from chemicals for ecosystems, data on their toxicity, which are typically produced in standardized ecotoxicological laboratory tests, is required. The results from ecotoxicological tests are compiled in (meta-)databases such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ECOTOXicology Knowledgebase (ECOTOX). However, for many chemicals, multiple ecotoxicity data are available for the same test organism. These can vary strongly, thereby causing uncertainty of related analyses. Given that most current databases lack aggregation steps or are confined to specific chemicals, we developed Standartox, a tool and database that continuously incorporates the ever-growing number of test results in an automated process workflow that ultimately leads to a single aggregated data point for a specific chemical-organism test combination, representing the toxicity of a chemical. Standartox can be accessed through a web application and an R package.