| THE CIS NEWS | December 2004 |
| This issue of The CIS News is coming to you from the CIS E-mail address -- cissupport@nisc.com. Comments, questions, concerns, etc., should be directed to that address. | |
[Format problems? If the format of this newsletter goes doesn't suit your E-mail reader, try taking a look at the HTML version of the newsletter in The CIS News archive. You can reach it through http://www.nisc.com/cis/.] |
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| UPDATES | |
| Several existing CIS databases were updated in December. | |
| AQUIRE: | |
| The number of records in this database increased from around 220,000 to around 228,000. To find only those records added or updated since the last update, enter ">20021220" in the Add/ Alter Date box toward the bottom of the search screen. The latest Add/Alter Date now in the system is from March 12, 2003. | |
| TRI (Toxics Release Inventory): | |
| The 2002 data were added to this database (the most recent year so far available). We now have a complete line-up of TRI data from 1987 to 2002. You can search this database by company name, facility location, substance name or CAS RN, or by a variety of other search inputs. You can search the whole range of years at one go, or you can restrict a search to some sub-set of the years available. | |
| RTECS®: | |
| A regular quarterly update to the RTECS (R) database increased the number of records in the database from 158,901 to 159,426, each dealing with one chemical substance. The addition of 525 new records to the database this time is consistent with the last several updates, which added 562 (August 2004), 602 records (April 2004), 633 records (January 2004), and 602 records (October 2003). We should note, too, that more than 5,700 records have been added to the database or altered during 2004 -- so far (the final update for 2004 will appear early in 2005). If you are using one of those versions of RTECS (R) that is not being updated regularly, you're missing a substantial body of data. | |
| FINDS: | |
| The FINDS database of
sites and facilities regulated under a wide variety of EPA programs increased in size from
1,116,699 to 1,295,887 records. As long-time users of FINDS know, the
database itself contains little information other than pointers to other sources of
information on a given site or facility. For example, a given FINDS
record might indicate that a site/facility is covered in the CERCLIS or RCRIS
databases, and you could then seek more detailed information from those databases on CIS.
For those information sources not also included in CIS, you would have to seek the
information elsewhere, of course. However, users may not have noticed how many state sources of information are cited in FINDS these days. The number of states making references to their listings available through FINDS has been growing over the years, and the number of states with data sources referenced in FINDS has now reached 18, covering 20 different data sources. Here is a list of these data sources after the latest update. To search for all the entries relating to one of these state data sources, simply enter FINDS in the CIS Database File search box and the term on the left below in the Source of Information search box. Note that the search term for Oregon (OR-DEQ) has to be put in quotes when you search for it (i.e., "OR-DEQ") to prevent the system from thinking that OR is the Boolean operator "or." Search Term: AZURITE State: Arizona Of course, when you get a FINDS hit citing one of these state sources, further information from that source would have to be sought from the state itself -- either on the Web or through an FOI request. |
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| The HSDB, ISHOW, and MALLIN databases also underwent minor updates in December. | |
| PHYTOTOX: Dropped | |
| The PHYTOTOX database was dropped during the course of the update noted above. Virtually all the data it contained has been absorbed into TERRETOX. | |
| CHEMICAL NAMES AND NOMENCLATURE: | |
| A recent discussion on a chemical
information E-mail forum that we subscribe to indicated that there were quite a few
sophisticated searchers who were puzzled by the "(9CI)" entry that accompanies
so many chemical names in listings from CIS and other database services. In particular,
people wanted to know if the "(9CI)" notation was part of the chemical name, and
whether it needed to be included in search inputs. The simple answer to those questions is
-- No, it's not part of the name, and No, it should not be included in search inputs.
Following is a brief explanation to readers of this newsletter who might be similarly
puzzled. The "(9CI)" notation that appears in so many chemical names refers to the "9th Collective Index" from Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). CAS has been indexing the world's chemical literature since 1907. In the days when CAS's indices appeared only in print, they would grow increasingly cumbersome and expensive as each edition was replaced by a new cumulative edition that added index entries from a subsequent period. Consequently, CAS adopted the practice of closing the indices periodically, and starting a new index afresh. Thus, there are now a series of "collective indices" covering various periods of time. The first "collective index" ran from 1907 to 1916. In 1917 began the second "collective index," which ran until 1926, and so forth up to the present. (We are now in the "15th collective index" period.) Furthermore, from time to time, CAS would alter the rules of chemical nomenclature by which they made entries in the indices. There were two major purposes for this. First, by following systematic nomenclature rules, one could make sure that all citations to the same substance appeared under the same chemical name in the index -- as they might not if one simply indexed under whatever chemical name a given author happened to use. Second, the systematic nomenclature was structured to permit the indices to display related substances in adjacent positions -- so that, for example, all Butane-related substances could be given names beginning with "Butane," and thus wind up being listed contiguously. The culmination of these efforts was the rules adopted for the "9th Collective Index" (1972-1976). When you see a name like "Benzene, 1,3-dibromo- (9CI)," the "(9CI)" indicates that the name was constructed according to the rules adopted for compilation of the "9th Collective Index." CAS has made some further modifications to its nomenclature system since that time -- there will probably never be an end to the process -- but "9CI" names are still the standard for this sort of thing. It is for that reason that searchers will continue to see those "(9CI)" notations turning up in outputs from CIS and other information services for the foreseeable future. With all that said, however, the curious thing is that "9CI" names aren't really names at all. They're index entries. That is, a "name" like "Benzene, 1,3-dibromo" is structured the way it is to make the entry sort alphabetically under "Benzene." Even CAS refers to this as an inverted form of the name -- the comma following Benzene being called "the comma of inversion." Thus, citing "Benzene, 1,3-dibromo-" as a name is a little like saying that the name of the first American president was "Washington, George." One could argue that the NAME of the substance cited above is actually "1,3-Dibromobenzene" no matter how CAS constructs its index entries. However, those index entries are now frequently cited as names themselves, the chemicals don't care, and we can all call the chemical whatever we like so long as it's clear what's under discussion. For its part, CIS will continue to cite both inverted -- "9CI" -- "names" and uninverted forms as well to maximize your chances of getting a hit no matter which form you use. |
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August 2004 Newsletter |
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