TOXMAP (http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov) is a Geographic Information System (GIS) from the Division of Specialized Information Services (http://sis.nlm.nih.gov) of the US National Library of Medicine® (NLM) (http://www.nlm.nih.gov) that uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Superfund Program.

For more information, see the NLM TOXMAP Fact Sheet.

The TOXMAP Tour (http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/tour/index.html) will walk you through TOXMAP's main features step-by-step. It is designed to take about 20 minutes.

The effect a chemical has on a living organism-- if any-- is called the organism's response. The response is related to the chemical dose and to the resulting concentration of the chemical in the organism. (The dose is the total amount of chemical administered to, or taken by, an organism.) The dose of a chemical often determines the extent of the effect it produces. Understanding the dose-response relationship is necessary for understanding the cause and effect relationship between chemical exposure and illness.

The toxicity of a substance depends on many factors: the form and chemical activity; the dosage, especially the dose-time relationship; exposure route; species; age; sex; ability of the chemical to be absorbed; metabolism; distribution within the body; excretion; and the presence of other chemicals.

The variety of responses among organisms that get the same dose of chemical is due to individual susceptibility. Dose and individual susceptibility play roles in all situations involving chemical exposure. Toxicologists study responses of living organisms to doses of chemicals.

Always keep in mind that the co-occurrence of a substance and a particular health problem does not by itself imply an effect on human health by that substance; the association of two or more variables (correlation) does not, by itself, imply a cause and effect relationship.

You can learn more about chemicals and toxicity with these Toxicology Tutorials (http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/toxtutor.html). These three short high school level tutorials about basic toxicology are organized by chapter and offer text, graphics, and quizzes/assessments.

It is difficult to answer this question simply because there is currently no standard approach to assess overall human health risk. People are exposed to chemicals in our environment via in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the houses we live in, and the food we eat. TRI releases and Superfund sites are just a few examples of sources of chemical exposure.

Some of these chemicals may affect our health. Understanding exposure and determining whether there is a health risk is a very complex process. There are many factors that affect health risk. A large release of one chemical might be less harmful to our health than a smaller release of another chemical; the impact of air releases can be affected by wind direction and other factors.

Learn more about chemicals and risk to human health with the links below:

• What is Relative Risk? (NLM - http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/disclaimer.php#relative_risk)
• Is my health at risk because of toxic chemicals in my community? (EPA - http://www.epa.gov/tri/stakeholders/communities/index.htm)
• Basic Risk Assessment (EPA - http://epa.gov/riskassessment/basicinformation.htm)
• Human Health Risk Assessment (EPA - http://epa.gov/riskassessment/health-risk.htm)
• Toxicology Research (EPA - http://epa.gov/ncct/index.html)
• The Habitable Planet: Risk, Exposure, and Health (Annenberg Learner - http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=6&secNum=0)

TOXMAP can create several types of maps:

• TRI Facilities Maps
• TRI Chemical Releases Maps
• TRI Chemical Trends Maps
• Superfund Maps
• TOXNET® Search Maps
• Combination Maps

TRI Facilities Maps

TOXMAP's "TRI Facilities" maps show all facilities that have reported to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) (http://www.epa.gov/tri/) program.

Federal law requires certain industrial facilities which manufacture, process, or otherwise use particular toxic chemicals in amounts exceeding specific threshold values, to report annually on their releases of these chemicals to the environment or transferred off-site to be processed as waste. Information about source reduction and recycling is also reported. The label above the TOXMAP map notes the TRI year represented.

Each TOXMAP TRI facility location is represented with a small white square and is mapped using coordinates from the EPA's Facility Registry System (FRS).

The "TRI facility details" link to the right of the map provides additional information about each facility. If a TRI facility (identified by its TRI Facility ID) has a name change between TRI years, the most recent name is displayed in TOXMAP.

To create a facilities map, enter search terms (excluding chemical name) in the TOXMAP "Quick Search" box (to the left of the home page map) with the "TRI" checkbox checked. Alternatively, select the TOXMAP "TRI Facilities" tab and then move the map to the desired area.

TRI Chemical Releases Maps

TOXMAP's "TRI Releases" maps show color-coded maps for reported on-site TRI chemical releases. Each release is represented with a colored circle indicating the amount of total on-site release in a single calendar year. The location is mapped using coordinates from the EPA's Facility Registry System (FRS). The color of the circle represents the amount of on-site release relative to all other such releases nationwide (based on the search criteria). The releases map legend provides details.

To create a releases map, enter search terms (including chemical name) in the TOXMAP "Quick Search" box (to the left of the home page map) with the "TRI" checkbox checked. Alternatively, select the TOXMAP "TRI Releases" tab, select a chemical on the "Search" page, optionally choose the year, and move the map to the desired area.

Additional information about each facility and release can be found by clicking the "TRI on-site release details" link to the right of the map. If a single facility (identified by its TRI Facility ID) has a name change between TRI years, the most recent name is displayed in TOXMAP.

Maps can show on-site releases of a single chemical in a single year, or releases identified by a search in NLM's TOXNET Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The criteria available in TOXNET TRI allow for customized TOXMAP chemical releases maps. For example, a map could show on-site TRI chemical releases for a particular Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code in a particular ZIP code.

TRI Chemical Trends Maps

TOXMAP's "TRI Trends" maps show changes in reported on-site TRI release amounts for a chosen chemical.

At this time, TOXMAP's trend calculation does not account for changes to the TRI program's release or waste management data. Therefore, an apparent increase or decrease in on-site releases may actually reflect a change in TRI chemical reporting requirements. We intend to change TOXMAP to take some or all of these reporting requirement changes into account in an upcoming version of TOXMAP.

The "trend," or "chemical on-site release amount change" for a given facility and chemical, is calculated by comparing the total on-site release amount for the most recent year of TRI data in TOXMAP to the average of all previous years. The TOXMAP FAQ "How are TRI trends calculated?" provides additional details about this calculation.

Each trend is represented with a colored triangle indicating the degree of change in total on-site release amount and is mapped using coordinates from the EPA's Facility Registry System (FRS). Upward trends are represented with an upright triangle, downward trends with a triangle pointing downward. The color of the triangle represents the amount of change relative to all other changes nationwide of the same chemical. The trends map legend provides details.

Additional information about each facility and trend can be found by clicking the "TRI facility details" link. If a single facility (identified by its TRI Facility ID) has a name change between TRI years, the most recent name is displayed in TOXMAP.

To create a trends map, click the TOXMAP "TRI Trends" tab, and then select or enter a chemical name on the "Search" page, and move the map to the desired area.

TOXNET® TRI Search Results Maps

TOXMAP maps can also be created from TOXNET (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/) TRI search results.

Select TRI (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?TRI) from the TOXNET database menu, search chemical name, CAS Registry Number, TRI data year, and/or details about the releases or releasing facility. Your TRI search results can be mapped with TOXMAP by clicking on the "Map it with TOXMAP" icon located on the upper right of the results page/s.

NOTE: At this time, TOXMAP shows reported on-site releases only; it does not show transfers off-site or those managed via waste reduction. Also, TOXMAP Chemical Releases maps do not show Form A (short form) submissions (http://tri.supportportal.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=22811), because Form A release amounts vary. Consequently, the number of results in TOXNET might not match the number of releases mapped in TOXMAP.

Superfund Maps

TOXMAP's "Superfund" maps show sites which have been identified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Superfund Program (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/index.htm).

The EPA Superfund Program is part of a federal government effort to clean up land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and that has been identified by the EPA (http://www.epa.gov/) as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or to the environment.

Each Superfund site location is represented with a small red square (indicating its Status on the National Priorities List (NPL) and is mapped using coordinates from the EPA's Facility Registry System (FRS).

The "Superfund site details" link provides additional information about each Superfund site.

To create a Superfund site map, enter search terms in the TOXMAP "Quick Search" box (to the left of the home page map) with the "Superfund NPL" checkbox checked. Alternatively, select the TOXMAP "Superfund" tab and then move the map to the desired area. Click the "Search" subtab or the "Search a chemical" link to show only those sites containing a specific chemical.

Combination Maps

TOXMAP allows users to create maps that combine both TRI and Superfund data. The "Combo" tab lets users select specific TOXMAP datasets to be mapped (e.g. TRI facilities, TRI on-site chemical releases, TRI chemical release trends, Superfund sites on the National Priorities List (NPL), and demographic data).

Examples of Combination maps include:

• A TRI facilities and Superfund sites map shows both all facilities that have reported to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) (http://www.epa.gov/tri/) program and all sites (of a given NPL Status) that have been identified by the EPA's Superfund Program (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/index.htm). The "TRI facility details" link provides additional information about each TRI facility. Likewise, the "Superfund site details" link provides additional information about each Superfund site.
  
  
• A Chemical releases map shows color-coded maps for reported on-site TRI releases of a specified chemical, and Superfund sites that contain that same chemical according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s CERCLIS database. A list of the TRI chemicals in TOXMAP can be found at http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/chemicals.jsp. A list of the Superfund chemicals in TOXMAP can be found at http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/sfChemicals.jsp).
  
  
• A Superfund sites and TRI chemical release trends map shows locations of Superfund sites and changes in reported on-site release amounts for a chosen TOXMAP TRI chemical.

Demographic Data

Many types of demographic data can be overlaid on any TOXMAP map. Available demographic layers include US population, age group, and race (US Census 2000, 1990); per capita personal income (1988-2003); cancer mortality (1970-1994); and mortality from various causes (1988-1992).

Geographic Region

Once a geographic region has been chosen, all TOXMAP maps show TRI and Superfund results only inside the specified region. Other map data (such as roads, political boundaries, and demographic data) are visually muted on the map. TOXMAP provides many pre-defined geographic regions, or users can create and name their own regions.

TRI or Superfund search results can be saved from any map page except Chemical Release Trends. Only the results within your current map area are saved; be sure to navigate to your area of interest before saving results. The saved data correspond to the information presented via the links in the Map Details area.

To save search results, click on the Download sub-tab. Make sure pop-up blockers are disabled in your browser for toxmap.nlm.nih.gov. Then click "Download TRI (or Superfund) search results." Then click "download now" to start the download process. Closing this window while the download is in progress will cancel the download.

While the results are downloading, you can continue to use TOXMAP in the main TOXMAP window.

When your results are ready, your browser will ask you whether to save or open the file. The file contains comma-delimited data which can be imported into a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel, or into a resource such as Google Maps (http://support.google.com/maps/).

At this time, TOXMAP uses reported on-site releases only. Some TRI chemicals have no reported releases, and so will not appear in the TRI release data or in TOXMAP.

Certain industries in the United States which manufacture, process, use, or transport significant amounts of specific toxic chemicals (approximately 650 chemicals and chemical categories covering about 23,000 industrial and federal facilities) are required by law to report annually on the releases of these chemicals to the EPA (through its Toxics Release Inventory Program/TRI). TOXMAP maps on-site releases of these chemicals.

It should be noted that although facilities are required by federal law to use the best available data for their reporting, the accuracy of the reported data is unknown since it can be based on both actual measurements and on estimates. However, the Toxics Release Inventory is the best public information available on these chemicals.

The EPA Superfund Program is part of a federal government effort to decontaminate any land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and that has been identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment. The program designates more than 800 substances as hazardous, and many more as potentially hazardous to human health or to the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed. TOXMAP also maps Superfund chemicals and sites.

The toxic chemicals reported in this way make up only a small portion of the total amount manufactured, handled and used in the United States.

Industries are not the only entities responsible for toxic chemicals. Since the current reporting requirements apply only to industrial sources, sources of toxic chemicals from transportation, farming and households are not included. In addition, thousands of new chemicals are studied each year and thousands are manufactured. This number far exceeds the ability to test them all regarding possible toxic effects on people, plants or animals.

The data found in TOXMAP comes from several providers, including:

• Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)
  A federal law called the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) (http://www.epa.gov/regulations/laws/epcra.html) requires facilities in certain industries which manufacture, process, or use significant amounts of toxic chemicals, to report annually on their releases of these chemicals. The reports contain information about the types and amounts of toxic chemicals that are released each year to the air, water, land and by underground injection, as well as information on the quantities of toxic chemicals sent to other facilities for further waste management.
  
  Facilities with ten or more full-time employees that process more than 25,000 pounds in aggregate, or use greater than 10,000 pounds of any one TRI chemical, are required to report releases annually. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (http://www.epa.gov) maintains this information in a database called the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) (http://www.epa.gov/tri/). The toxics release files on the National Library of Medicine's® (NLM) Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET®) (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov) come from TRI.
  
  TOXMAP uses the most current, final TRI data available from the EPA. Data submission deadlines, data entry processes, and data quality control and review all influence the actual date of data release by both the EPA and by TOXMAP.
  
  A complete list of chemicals currently listed in TOXMAP can be found at http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/chemicals.jsp. A complete list of TRI chemicals required to be reported to the EPA can be found at http://www.epa.gov/tri/trichemicals/index.htm..
  
  NOTE: At this time, TOXMAP uses reported on-site releases only. Some TRI chemicals have no reported releases, and so will not appear in the TRI release data or in TOXMAP.
  
  For more information, see the TRI Fact Sheet (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/trifs.html).
  
  
• EPA's CERCLIS
  CERCLIS (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Information System) (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/cursites/index.htm) is a database maintained by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
  
  CERCLIS contains information about Superfund sites, such as the current status of cleanup efforts, cleanup milestones reached, and amounts of liquid and solid media treated at sites on the National Priorities List (NPL) or under consideration for the NPL. The CERCLIS database can be searched at http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/srchsites.cfm.
  
  
• EPA's Facility Registry System (FRS)
  TOXMAP plots the location of TRI facilities using addresses and coordinates from the EPA's Facility Registry System (FRS) (http://www.epa.gov/frs/). The FRS is a centrally managed database that identifies facilities, sites or places subject to environmental regulations or of environmental interest.
  
  
• Hazardous Substances Databank® (HSDB)
  HSDB (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?HSDB) contains comprehensive toxicological information on over 4,700 chemicals. Data in HSDB are peer-reviewed, and are derived and referenced from a core set of books, government documents, technical reports and selected primary journal literature. For more information, see the HSDB Fact Sheet (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/hsdbfs.html).
  
  
• TOXLINE®
  TOXLINE® (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?TOXLINE) is the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) bibliographic database on toxicology, containing over 3 million references to literature on biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals. It is composed of articles from PubMed®/MEDLINE® and references from an assortment of specialized journals and other sources. For more information, see the TOXLINE® Fact Sheet.
  
  
• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
  The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/atsdrhome.html) is an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services. It strives to use the best science, to take responsive public health actions, and to provide trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and disease related to toxic substances.
  
  
• National Atlas of the United States of America (USGS)
  TOXMAP uses the USGS's National Atlas (http://www.nationalatlas.gov/) for the following data:
  
  
  • 1990 and 2000 US Census population (http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/ce2000t.html): this includes selected county-level demographics (age, male/female ratio, population and race/ethnicity) and can be found in its original form on the US Census Bureau's website (http://www.census.gov/geo/www/index.html).
    
    
  • Personal Income (http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/bea001p.html): this data is originally collected by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) (http://www.bea.gov/beahome.html), part of the US Department of Commerce (http://www.commerce.gov/).
    
    
  • US cities, states, counties, federal land, urban areas, and roads (http://www.nationalatlas.gov/maplayers.html).
  
  
• National Cancer Institute (NCI)
  TOXMAP uses the NCI's SEER*Stat Database (http://www.seer.cancer.gov/) for its cancer and disease mortality data. Underlying mortality data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (http://www.cdc.gov).
  
  
• National Weather Service OST/SEC GIS Map Group
  Map data for US Territories such as Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, & Midway come from NOAA's (http://www.noaa.gov) National Weather Service OST/SEC GIS Map Group (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/national/html/us_state.htm).
  
  
• ESRI
  Data for hospitals, lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water, and for boundaries of Mexico come from ESRI (http://www.esri.com/). Hospital data was derived from the AHA FY2005 data release.
  
  
• GeoGratis
  Data for Canadian boundaries come from GeoGratis (Canadian government) (http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/).

TOXMAP facility locations are calculated by an estimation process that relies on "geocoding." Geocoding is a method that assigns a latitude and a longitude to an address. Even the most accurate latitude/longitude coordinate calculations, including those used by TOXMAP, are estimates; this can account for minor inaccuracies in site locations on a map.

Addresses are geocoded using software that accesses location information from a variety of sources which contain street segments; address ranges are attached to each side of the segment. TOXMAP's geocoding program estimates the location of each facility address based on this address range. Although very accurate, these locations are estimates, and they should not be used to definitively locate a particular facility.

More information about the accuracy of locations in TOXMAP can be found in the TOXMAP FAQ "How accurate are TRI locations in TOXMAP?"

User feedback guides TOXMAP. Feedback received through focus groups and other evaluation methods has identified features to be considered for future versions of TOXMAP. These include the ability to view two or more chemicals on one map and more types of US map, health, and census data. You can learn more about some of these potential new features by visiting "TOXMAP Tomorrow "(http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/tour/part2/index.html).

Other features that are being considered for future versions of TOXMAP include: the ability to combine TOXMAP data with data from other sources (such as another mapping system on the Internet); inclusion of spatial data from sources in addition to TRI and Superfund; information that assists users in using and "interpreting" created maps; and inclusion of other TRI data, such as off-site waste transfers.

Your priorities are ours. Please contact TOXMAP with your comments and feedback.

TOXMAP can dynamically generate specific custom-made TRI and Superfund maps and facility or on-site release details via simple links.

How it works
Linking to TOXMAP works by adding a single HTML tag (called an HREF) that tells a web page to go to the TOXMAP web site. Information about the custom map requested is passed to TOXMAP through the URL (see examples below) by including specific information about the type of map desired.

Restrictions
There are no restrictions on and no limit to the number of custom maps that can be created; this service is free. The TOXMAP page linked to may be displayed in a frame set or in a new browser window.

Examples of dynamically generated custom-made maps

On-site releases of Toluene Diisocyanate by reporting TRI facilities in the United States and Superfund sites containing Toluene Diisocyanate:
http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/mapIt.do?registryNumber=26471-62-5

TRI facilities and Superfund sites in area of Green Bay, WI:
http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/mapIt.do?city=green+bay&state=WI

On-site releases of Mercury Compounds by reporting TRI facilities in the United States and Superfund sites containing Mercury Compounds in EPA Region 4:
http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/mapIt.do?
chemicalName=mercury+compounds®ionID=EPARegion04

Note: for custom links to start TOXMAP with a pre-defined region selected, see the region's description on the Set Region page.

TRI releases with the specified submission numbers in the area of San Juan County, NM:
http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/mapIt.do?
subnos=1302200254249,1302200776502&otherPlace=san+juan+county

TRI or Superfund only Maps

If your URL contains "/tri/" or "/superfund/" instead of "/main/" TOXMAP creates a map showing only the TRI or Superfund data sets. For example, http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/tri/mapIt.do?chemicalName=mercury+compounds
creates a map of on-site TRI releases of Mercury Compounds by reporting TRI facilities in the United States; Superfund sites containing Mercury Compounds will not be mapped.

Required "Parameters" (CGI variables after the question mark in the URL)
None

Optional "Parameters"
> city
> state
> ZIP
> otherPlace - a county, body of water, or other place
> regionID - the region ID of a pre-defined or user-defined region
> chemicalName
> registryNumber - CAS registry number (preferred over chemicalName)
> subnos - A comma-delimited list of one or more TRI submission numbers (overrides "chemicalName" and "registryNumber")

Parameter combinations that can be used for specifying a place
> city and state
> state only
> city only
> ZIP code only
> otherPlace only
> regionID only

ZIP code is ignored if a city and state is provided; state is ignored if a ZIP code is provided; all place parameters are ignored if a regionID is provided.

Types of maps created
If your URL contains "chemicalName" or "registryNumber," then TOXMAP creates a custom map showing on-site TRI chemical releases in the most recent TRI year as well as all Superfund sites in the National Priorities List (NPL) dataset containing the specified chemical. If your URL contains "subnos", then TOXMAP creates a map showing the TRI chemical releases corresponding to the specified submission numbers. When none of these items is supplied, TOXMAP creates a combination map showing all TRI facilities and Superfund NPL sites, unless the URL has specified only the TRI or Superfund dataset (see above)

If your URL contains place information (city, state, or ZIP), TOXMAP creates a map of that area. If a region is specified, then the map will show results only inside the specified region. When none of these is supplied, TOXMAP creates a map of the entire United States. In all cases, you have full control to zoom or pan the map to see the entire nation and surrounding countries.

URL Rules
1. The URL must follow standard HTML rules
2. There can be no hard returns in the URL
3. There can be no spaces within the HREF. Replace spaces with the plus sign (+). Special characters within the URL must be replaced by their octal equivalent.

> Use %%25 to represent the % character
> Use %%26 to represent the & character
> Use %%30 to represent the + character

Links to facility or on-site release details
TOXMAP supports custom links to TRI facility details (including name, address, on-site chemical release data, etc.). Similar links are available for on-site chemical releases, release trends, or Superfund NPL sites. Contact us at tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov for the format of the URLs of these links.

Get help setting up a TOXMAP link on your site
Contact us at tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov.