As the variety of pesticides expands and efforts to ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products deepen, pesticide‑related data are growing rapidly. Consequently, achieving scientific, systematic, and standardized data management is of paramount importance in pesticide regulation. One approach to systematizing pesticide data management is to establish a database of pesticide‑related contaminants; internationally, relatively comprehensive pesticide toxicology databases have already been developed. In China, some pesticide toxicology research currently relies on foreign databases, whose data sources are predominantly English-language publications or non‑English works with English abstracts. Moreover, these international databases contain limited information on the ecotoxicological effects of Chinese native species. As a result, when conducting pesticide toxicology and ecological risk assessment studies, the scientific rigor of such research is compromised due to differences in species composition and ecological structures between China and other regions.

At present, when conducting research on environmental pollutant risk assessment, remediation, pesticide management, and ecotoxicology in China, scientists are often constrained by the lack of a domestically developed toxicity database and platform. Consequently, establishing a localized database of pesticide environmental and toxicological data, along with a corresponding data‑application platform, has become an urgent priority for environmental pollutant research in China. This paper reviews the current state of pesticide‑related databases both domestically and internationally, outlining the basic features, data types, categories, and distinctive characteristics of commonly used databases, to serve as a reference and resource for relevant studies.

EFSA OpenFoodTox database

Established in 2002, the EFSA operates independently of European legislative and executive bodies—namely the Commission, the Council, and the Parliament—as well as the EU member states. It serves as an independent risk-assessment body for food and feed safety within the European Union. The agency aims to evaluate risks across the entire food chain, safeguarding consumers, animals, and the environment from food‑related hazards, and providing impartial scientific advice to policymakers responsible for managing food safety in Europe.

OpenFoodTox provides an open-access database on chemical hazards in food and feed, with pesticide‑related risk assessment data forming a key component. Its researchers have conducted risk assessments for nearly 5,000 substances, drawing on more than 2,040 scientific opinions, statements, and conclusions. For each substance, EFSA has prepared summaries covering human health, animal health, and ecological hazard assessments. These summaries include: the substance characterization section, which provides molecular formula, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number, and other relevant data; the reference points section, which details study type, species, mode of action, effects, and toxicity; the reference values section, which lists substance classifications, special population groups, and reference values; the OpenFoodTox section, which contains chemical evaluations, genotoxicity data, and endpoint studies; the EFSA output section, which specifies the legal basis and output type; and the genotoxicity section, which reports on the substance’s genotoxic potential, along with authorship and publication year.

This database was established to extract and aggregate data from EFSA researchers’ reports; accordingly, all its data originate exclusively from EFSA publications—scientific opinions, statements, and pesticide‑review conclusions—making it a secondary‑derived dataset. Users can directly and swiftly access the original source documents through the database. In addition to pesticide data, the database also includes information on food additives, nutrients, and contaminants in the food chain. The final section of the database presents key studies, enabling researchers to derive reference values from these benchmark sources. During data entry, the system automatically validates data quality, and any submissions require manual verification to ensure accuracy. EFSA’s Scientific Committee and expert panels review the data it publishes, while auditors conduct independent assessments to uphold data credibility, with a commitment to full transparency in all its activities.

The URL for the EFSA OpenFoodTox database is:

https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/data/chemical-hazards-data (freely accessible and usable)

EPA CompTox Chemicals Dashboard database

The EPA was established on December 2, 1970. Its distributed‑structure database was publicly released in 2004 and currently contains more than 875,000 substances, primarily drawn from the research of EPA environmental scientists. After 2014, it began automatically incorporating selected portions of three public datasets: the EPA’s Substance Registration Service (SRS), the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s ChemID, and PubChem. Initially, the Distributed Structure‑Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) database included information on just over 7,000 chemicals, all entered manually; by 2013, this had expanded to 24,000 substances, at which point manual management and maintenance could no longer support further growth. Consequently, DSSTox_V2 was developed; the second generation not only digitized all the data from the original DSSTox but also integrated additional public chemical databases, bringing the total number of chemicals covered to over 740,000. In 2016, building on DSSTox_V2, the EPA launched the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard, a primary tool for public access to DSSTox’s chemical structure database and index.

The EPA also maintains several other pesticide‑ and toxicology‑related databases, including the Pesticide Chemical Search, ChemView, the Integrated Risk Information System, the Water Quality Portal, and the National Pesticide Information Retrieval System. On the EPA’s homepage, users can access the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s toxicological profiles, which cover approximately 275 substances. These profiles provide information on each substance’s basic characteristics, physicochemical properties, human health endpoints, and relevant regulatory requirements. The EPA’s main website is https://www.epa.gov/, while its dedicated page for pesticide risk assessment is https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-science-and-assessing-pesticide-risks, offering extensive resources on pesticide risk assessment, pesticide databases, and pesticide science.

The URL for the EPA CompTox Chemicals Dashboard is:

https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard (available for free viewing and use)

PPDB

In 2007, PPDB was launched as a freely accessible website. Developed by the Institute of Pesticides and the Environment at the University of Hertfordshire for a wide range of end users, it evolved from a database originally integrated into agricultural environmental management software. With further system development and expansion supported by the EU‑funded FOOTPRINT project and additional revenue, it now also supports risk assessment and risk management.

PPDB is a comprehensive information database that provides data on the chemical properties, physicochemical characteristics, human health effects, and ecotoxicology of pesticides. As of 2017, PPDB contains data on nearly 2,300 pesticide active substances and more than 700 metabolites. Each substance has approximately 300 parameters stored, covering six domains: chemical properties, general status, pesticide formulations, environmental fate, ecotoxicology, and human health and protection. The data in PPDB are sourced from globally published scientific literature and databases, technical manuals, regulatory registries, company‑provided technical data sheets, and research projects. Prior to being entered into the database, all data undergo quality control, employing peer review and cross‑checking against other databases and data sources. If data are deemed questionable and the original reference source is known, PPDB revisits the original source and adjusts its quality score for users’ reference.

The types of pesticides it contains include approved pesticides, newly developed pesticides, and obsolete or banned pesticides. In addition to the pesticide‑properties database, it also maintains two databases on biopesticides and veterinary medicines.

Its website is:

http://sitem.herts.ac.uk/aeru/ppdb/en/index.htm (available for free viewing)

Pesticide Action Network (PAN)

The PAN Pesticide Database is a one-stop resource for pesticide toxicity and regulatory information, established in 1982. PAN is a network comprising more than 600 non-governmental organizations, institutions, and individuals from over 90 countries, supported by five independent regional hubs—Africa, North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific—that implement its programs and activities. The North American hub is responsible for maintaining and updating the PAN Pesticide Database, which aggregates pesticide information from diverse sources and provides data on approximately 6,400 pesticides and their transformation products. The database covers identification details, health toxicology (both chronic and acute), symptoms of poisoning, regulatory status, potential for water contamination, ecotoxicity, and regulatory information. It is the most comprehensive database of registered pesticide data in North America. To ensure data accuracy, all entries undergo peer review by scientists, with the majority of information drawn from official sources that have been evaluated using weight-of-evidence methodologies.

All data sources are fully cited, enabling users to quickly access the original datasets. Each dataset is accompanied by reference documentation that identifies its provenance and assesses the accuracy, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of the source. PAN’s data are primarily drawn from official institutions, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the World Health Organization, the National Toxicology Program, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. When data are obtained from the internet, links to the original sources are provided; and when data cannot be retrieved from authoritative databases, the original source—namely, peer-reviewed scientific literature—is supplied.

Its website is http://www.pesticideinfo.org/ (available for free browsing).

U.S. Ecotoxicology Database (ECOTOX)

ECOTOX is developed and maintained by the Mid-Continent Ecological Division of the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory within the EPA’s Office of Research and Development. Its data consist primarily of ecotoxicity information on aquatic and terrestrial organisms for specific chemical substances, compiled by ECOTOX staff from literature housed in the library of the EPA’s Mid-Continent Ecological Division.

ECOTOX is primarily composed of three independent databases—AQUIRE, PHYTOTOX, and TERRETOX—and integrates toxicity data for aquatic and terrestrial organisms drawn from published literature spanning from 1970 to the present. As of February 8, 2020, the database contains information on 11,822 chemical substances, covering 13,039 species. It is updated approximately every three months. The data include basic chemical‑pollutant information such as English name, chemical name, solvent name, CAS number, molecular formula, and purity; experimental biological parameters, including the test organism’s common name, Latin name, number of individuals, life stage, and descriptive characteristics; experimental conditions, such as assay type, concentration or dose of the toxicant, exposure location, route of exposure, and duration of the experiment; and toxicity endpoints, including the median lethal dose (LD50), the median lethal concentration (LC50), residual toxicity effects, and related endpoint data. Data quality assurance involves two levels: self‑checks by data collectors, followed by reviews conducted by experienced data collectors and a final verification by the data manager.

The website for this database is:

https://cfpub.epa.gov/ecotox/search.cfm (available for free access)

Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET)

TOXNET is a comprehensive database collection developed by the Division of Specialized Information Services at the U.S. National Library of Medicine. It comprises two bibliographic databases—Toxicology Literature Online and the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Database—as well as twelve additional databases, including the Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System, the Carcinogenic Potency Database, the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database, the Genetics Database, the Hazardous Substances Database, the Integrated Risk Information System, and the International Toxicity Risk Assessment Database. Currently, the Hazardous Substances Database contains toxicological data on more than 5,000 hazardous chemicals that have undergone expert review, while the Toxicology Literature Online database includes 4 million records documenting the biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals. The remaining databases also provide specialized, detailed information; the volume of data for each can be found via the corresponding database link on the website. The primary content of these databases encompasses basic chemical information; health‑related toxicity data, such as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, tumor‑promoting and inhibitory effects, and health hazard assessments; environmental data, including safety management and ecotoxicological information; as well as analytical data on pharmaceuticals and chemicals, along with related biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological knowledge and data. All data are sourced from core authoritative publications, government documents, EPA technical reports, and leading peer‑reviewed journals. Users may choose to search individual databases, multiple databases, or all databases simultaneously.

The website for the TOXNET series of databases is:

https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ (All content is available free of charge)

However, due to the restructuring of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, most of its toxicology information services have been integrated into other products and services. Specifically, the Hazardous Substances Database, the Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System, and the Genetics Database have been incorporated into PubChem; the Toxicology Literature Online and the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Database—two literature‑based databases—have been merged into PubMed; and the Comprehensive Risk Information System, the Carcinogenic Potency Database, and the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database are no longer part of TOXNET’s supported services, though their data remain accessible. The TOXNET website referenced above provides links to access these databases.

Comparison of Major Foreign Databases

(1) Data query comparison

The EFSA and EPA databases allow data retrieval through queries of assessment reports or other literature, covering fundamental information (such as CAS number, molecular formula, and molecular weight), physicochemical properties (including physical state, melting point, boiling point, decomposition temperature, vapor pressure, Henry’s law constant, water solubility, and solubility in organic solvents), environmental behavior (such as degradation rate, adsorption coefficient, hydrolysis rate, and photolysis rate), health‑related toxicity (including acceptable daily intake, acute reference dose, and operator exposure limits), and ecotoxicological aspects—providing relatively comprehensive details. The PPDB and PAN databases enable direct data querying but offer fewer data parameters than the former. ECOTOX is an ecotoxicology database that provides detailed ecotoxicological data for a wide range of taxa, including birds, mammals, fish, aquatic invertebrates, benthic organisms, algae, aquatic higher plants, aquatic microcosm and mesocosm experiments, bees, other arthropods, earthworms, collembolans, and various other individual species.

Table 1: Comparison of Data Metrics Included in Major Overseas Pesticide-Related Databases

(2) Comparison of Advantages and Disadvantages

EFSA’s data are relatively comprehensive and abundant, though retrieving them can be cumbersome, and the database covers only European Union–related information. The EPA’s dataset is similarly broad in scope and variety, and it further maintains a separate pesticide database, which facilitates more efficient data collection and retrieval. PPDB and PAN are dedicated pesticide databases; their data types and metrics are more targeted, making it easier and more specialized to access pesticide‑related information. ECOTOX draws much of its data from published literature, yet users need not consult the original sources—data are presented directly in tabular form and can be exported as Excel files for convenient statistical analysis; however, exported datasets still require verification and filtering before use. TOXNET, by contrast, focuses primarily on pharmaceuticals and lacks substantial ecotoxicological data.

Table 2: Comparison of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Major Foreign Pesticide-Related Databases