Tracking Household Chemicals

By: Charles Bowen The same folks who faithfully jog and eat right and carefully manage their stress levels also routinely court calamity by inviting potentially lethal chemicals into their homes. What on earth is in that ever-so-effective wasp spray? That toilet bowl cleanser? That automobile de-icer you stocked up on for the coming winter?

Use the Net to find out. A new database from the National Institute of Health and the National Library of Medicine contains information on more than 4,000 consumer brands, allowing consumers to research products based on chemical ingredients. The system can help you determine:

* Chemical ingredients and their percentage in specific brands.

* Which products contain specific chemical ingredients.

* Names of manufacturers of specific brands and how to contact them.

* What are the acute and chronic effects of chemical ingredients in a specific brand.

* Information on chemicals in the toxicology-related databases of the National Library of Medicine.

You can browse or search the well-designed database by products, ingredients or Material Safety Data Sheets to easily locate the desired information. To use the resource, called the Household Products Database, visit http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov, where a the home page provide fast search and browse options. You can examine the data by products (auto, indoor home, pesticides, landscape/yard, personal care, home maintenance and hobbies and crafts) or by ingredients (a subsequent screen will prompt you for a chemical name). Or if you're in a hurry, use the "Quick Search" box. Simply enter a keyword or phrase to find articles containing that information.

Of particular interest to journalists will be the site's option to search its "Material Safety Data Sheet" for the health effects of products. To do that, click on the "MSDS" link on the left side of the introductory screen and, on the resulting page, type in symptoms (such as headache dizziness).

However you choose to search or browse, the site produces a list of linked headlines for relevant records in the data. Click any to see the full report. Each articles lists brand name, form, product category, manufacturer contact information, health effects, instructions for handling and disposal and chemical data. There are often links to "Products with similar usage" and "Products by this manufacturer," as well as links to background information on specific chemicals.

Other considerations for using this database in your writing and editing:

1. Need help with some of the terminology used in the reports? A "Glossary" link on the site's home page provides an alphabetical list of terms from "acute effect," "ambient environment" and "anoxia" to "vapor pressure" and "volatility." The section also covers assorted abbreviations.

2. For more information about products and product safety, click the "Other Resources" link at the bottom of any page in the site. The resulting screen has links to other government reference databases, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, with special emphasis on home products, labeling and hazard regulations.

3. If you write about the site in your news columns, you might want to advise readers that they can submit comments and questions to the site. Click the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page to reach an on-screen form.
---
You can read the last 20 "Reporter's Digital How-to" columns on our index page. Subscribers may access previous columns from our archives.