| THE CIS NEWS | October 2006 |
| 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 | |
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Several CIS databases were updated in
October, including the first update to TSCATS in several years.
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| FINDS: | |
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The FINDS database of sites and facilities regulated under a wide variety of EPA and many state programs now covers 1,761,354 sites/facilities. |
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| ICIS (Integrated Compliance Information System -- formerly DOCKET): | |
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This database contains records of administrative and judicial actions for alleged violations of environmental laws and regulations. There are now 63,077 records of administrative proceedings in the database and 6,271 records of formal judicial proceedings. |
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| RCRIS (RCRAInfo): | |
This database of RCRA-licensed sites/facilities increased to some 680,000 records, each one dealing with a single site or facility. |
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| CERCLIS (Superfund Sites): | |
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The number of sites/records in the CERCLIS
database did not increase in the course of this update, but the
number of records with lists of PRPs attached (Potentially Responsible
Parties) increased from 3,093 to 3,176.
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| IRIS: | |
Several records were updated in this EPA database, and links to some additional ancillary material were added. However, the total number of substance monographs (552) remains unchanged. [NOTE: Users of IRIS might be interested in articles on the future of the database that appeared in "Chemical & Engineering News" (May 15, 2006, page 38) and "Environmental Science and Technology" (July 1, 2006, page 4049.)] |
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| TSCATS: | |
| The TSCATS database -- "TSCA test submissions," the index to unpublished health and safety studies submitted to EPA -- increased by 396 records, to 64,780 total records. This is the first update issued by EPA since 2003. Of these 396 records, 328 are dated AFTER the last EPA receipt date in the old version of
TSCATS (9/28/2002); we are certain those are new. However, there are also 68 "new" records in the updated
TSCATS that have receipt dates PRIOR to the last EPA receipt date in the old
TSCATS; we believe that some of these are new records, not previously represented in
TSCATS, but it is also possible that a few are duplicates of other records already in the database. ALL of the newly added records have full-text PDF files attached to them, so that it isn't necessary to order copies of the indexed studies on microfiche for those records.
In connection with this update, we've added an Add/Alter Date field to
TSCATS. Pre-existing records have been given the artificial Add/Alter Date of "19850601"; the records newly added in this update have been given the artificial Add/Alter Date of "20060601." To restrict any search you do in
TSCATS to NEWLY ADDED RECORDS ONLY, enter ">2005" in the Add/Alter Date search box. |
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| UPCOMING TRANSFORMATION | |
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We currently expect that the next CIS update will see the disappearance of the ISHOW, ENVIROFATE, and DATALOG databases, to be replaced by a database called We currently expect that the next CIS update will see the disappearance of the ISHOW, ENVIROFATE, and DATALOG databases, to be replaced by a database called OBSERVATIONS, which will combine all three of the vanished databases. Of these three, only ISHOW has been updated in recent years, and we would like to be able to add material to all of them. Since there is substantial overlap among the three -- ISHOW deals with six basic physical/chemical properties, ENVIROFATE covers those same six properties plus about a dozen others, and DATALOG provides bibliographic citations (no data) for the same set of values covered by ENVIROFATE, it seemed appropriate to merge the three together into one common format that would make it easier for us to add material going forward. This will also allow us to eliminate some duplication that currently exists among the databases and tidy up the records somewhat. If and when all this is accomplished, it will be set up so that stipulating any one of these three database names (as many users are accustomed to doing) will elicit appropriate responses from all three databases. |
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| IDENTITY CRISIS | |
| Long-time users of CIS will be surprised to hear that we're thinking of re-naming the system ECIS -- Environmental Chemistry Information System. We're thinking of this because the revised name more accurately represents what we do. We acquired the name Chemical Information System back in the 1970's, when CIS was one of the earliest computerized chemistry resources. Our earliest focus was actually in analytical chemistry, but we moved away from that focus years and years ago. (The first mass spectroscopy database was on our system -- built with funding from EPA, NIH, and what was then NBS -- but that and other analytical databases years ago moved off our mainframe to PC's and then to the analytical instruments themselves.) We think we really no longer speak to cutting-edge chemistry research as practiced in industry and academic chemistry departments, and we would like those who specifically need basic information about "environmental chemistry" to know that providing such information is what we do. Thus the name change that we're considering. Still, CIS is a venerable term that is well-known in some circles, and we can't say that "ECIS" trips off the tongue as easily as "CIS" does for those of us who have been here a while. Consequently, we thought we'd ask our users if they have any thoughts about this proposed change. Do you? If so, we'd be interested in hearing them at cissupport@nisc.com. | |
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View
April 2006 Newsletter |
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