June 29, 2022
There were 438 entries from MAK in my reference 2022 Guide to Occupational Exposure Values published every year by ACGIH. I found 23 values that needed to be added or changed. There were several entries from MAK that are not in Haz-Map. I have already changed or added all 23 values in the Haz-Map database online.
April 28, 2022
I have completed reviewing the updated 2022 chemical information from ACGIH. Documentations of TLVs and BEIs of 18 chemicals were reviewed, and text was added to each chemical. New TLVs were added. There are also 24 Notice of Intended Changes (NICs) listed for this year that I have added. No changes were made in links between Agents-Diseases or Diseases-Job tasks.
April 12, 2022
I have completed the 2021 review of selected journals. A total of 124 papers were reviewed in 27 categories. Additional text with accompanying URL sources were made for 62 papers. The only change in agent-disease links was 2,3-Pentanedione linked to Bronchiolitis obliterans. No changes in links to diseases-job tasks were made.
December 10, 2021
The ACGIH webinar on "How to Use Haz-Map" is available at https://portal.acgih.org/s/store#/store/browse/detail/a154W00000BPzSxQAL for $99 (members) and $205 (nonmembers).
December 5, 2021
Something I learned in the ACGIH webinar on December 1, 2021 is regarding: Hazard = Toxicity X Exposure. It occurred to me that Adverse Effects in Haz-Map are akin to Toxicity. Adverse Effects include results of animal feeding studies and human poisoning cases by ingestion. Occupational Diseases are akin to Hazard—the Toxicity of the chemical times the opportunity for Exposure in the workplace. Most occupational diseases are caused by inhalation or skin absorption, not ingestion, Lead (Pb) being the exception.
In what follows, I will spell out the difference between Adverse Effects and Occupational Diseases:
You can see Adverse Effects on this page: https://www.haz-map.com/effects.htm. All Adverse Effects are available for each chemical in the Agents table. The 240 Occupational Diseases are found in a separate table.
Some of the adverse effects are automatic occupational diseases: Asthma, CNS Solvent Syndrome, Chloracne, Organophosphate & Carbamate, Organochlorine, Uncoupler, Simple Asphyxiant, and contact dermatitis including sun-induced. These 10 conditions are both adverse effects and occupational diseases. There are 230 conditions that are occupational diseases only. These occupational diseases, e.g., Asbestosis, are linked to Agents through the intermediate table.
Other adverse effects are linked to occupational diseases only if the scientific literature shows that there is an opportunity for occupational exposure with case reports or epidemiological evidence: Pneumonitis, Chronic Bronchitis, Fibrosis, Neuropathy, Methemoglobinemia, Aplastic Anemia, Hemolytic Anemia, Hepatotoxin, Nephrotoxin, Reproductive Toxin, and Chemical Asphyxiant. (There are no occupational diseases for Skin Burns and Parkinson’s Syndrome. Parkinson’s Syndrome is included in the symptoms of “Manganese, chronic toxic effect.”) These adverse effects are not automatic occupational diseases. If the chemical is determined to cause occupational disease, then it is linked to the occupational disease through the separate intermediate table between Occupational Diseases & Toxic Chemicals. See the table relationships on this page: https://www.haz-map.com/overview.htm. Intermediate tables are not shown in this picture, but they are necessary to establish many-to-many relationships (bidirectional arrows) in Microsoft Access. Chemicals are occupational carcinogens only if they are designated by IARC as Known Human Carcinogens AND they are identified as occupational carcinogens by the IARC paper published in 2018: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29769352/. Also see the bottom of this page under the heading of “IARC Changes in 2018: https://www.haz-map.com/cancer.htm.
November 24, 2021
In 2018, I started reviewing chemicals one-by-one. I am now reviewing the fifth 1250 chemicals added to Haz-Map. In April, 2022, I will have completed the fifth 1250 agents. I will continue until all 12,196 agents are reviewed. I am checking spelling, hyperlinks, IARC classifications, TLVs, IDLHs, vapor pressures, and disease links. Results are published immediately. I have also began the 2021 review of selected journals that I have been doing every three years (Am J Ind Med, Chest, Int Arch Occup Environ Health, J Occup Environ Hyg, J Occup Environ Med, and Scand J Work Environ Health). During the review, all articles are scanned on PubMed for the three-year time period. Pertinent articles are printed, and information in some are added to Haz-Map.
July 29, 2020
The updating of the 250 infectious diseases at iddx.com has been completed. At the bottom of the Comments section for each infectious disease in Haz-Map, there is now the statement, "For updated text and symptoms of infectious diseases, see iddx.com." The 105 infectious diseases in Haz-Map are in two categories, "Infection, Occupational" and "Infection, Travel."
May 19, 2020
In April, I also completed a review of the 260 page 2020 Guide to Occupational Exposure Values published by ACGIH. I focused on the values for MAK and WEEL and the classifications from IARC. The only Agent-Disease link change was removing the link between Diethylene glycol (111-46-6) and Encephalopathy, chronic solvent. The MAK values haven't been checked for many years. There were 44 additions or changes. There were 2 WEEL changes and 4 IARC classification changes.
IDdx, previously published as an App, is now published as a website developed by Bernie Hosey. It is at https://iddx.com/. It was first published on April 29, 2020. Notice that occupations are included. Diseases matching an occupation show all high-risk job tasks for that occupation. I am now in the process of updating the IDdx website with all of the new editions (9 books) of the 12 primary sources. All new page numbers and changes to text will be added to the new site. Then I will add the updates to appropriate fields in all infectious diseases in Haz-Map.
April 7, 2020
I have completed the 2020 ACGIH updates. This includes the 2020 Notice of Intended Changes and the "2020 Supplement to the 7th Edition, Documentation of the Threshold Limit Values and Biological Exposure Indices." The chemical monographs in the 2020 Supplement are Acrylamide, 4-tert-Butylbenzoic acid, Cyclohexane, Cyclohexene, Formamide, Hexazinone, Methyl isobutyl carbinol, Resin acids, Styrene, Styrene oxide, Sulfur pentafluoride, and Thiodicarb. All new values, e.g., TLVs and ACGIH cancer classifications were updated in the live database. Text was edited with new information. The following agent-disease relationships were changed: deleted link between Methyl isobutyl carbinol and Encephalopathy, chronic solvent; based on "Resin acids" monograph added link between Tall oil rosin (8052-10-6) and Asthma, occupational; added link between Sulfur pentafluoride and Pneumonitis, toxic; and added link between Thiodicarb and Contact dermatitis, allergic.
March 5, 2020
I am starting a review of the second 1250 agents added to the database (by Agent ID). Review of the first 1250 was completed in November 2019. I am checking spelling, hyperlinks, IARC classifications, TLVs, IDLHs, vapor pressures, and disease links.
December 20, 2019
New site launched!
Improvements include adding chemical structures, adding popup tips to some agent fields, adding new agent and disease fields, alphabetizing chemical lists on base names of chemicals (without prefixes), and improvements in the user interface for both the computer and mobile devices. About 200 of over 10,000 chemical structures in the Haz-Map database could not be imported into the web-based system. These will be added in the next couple weeks.