Assessing Hazard Potential of Select Chemicals using Computational Toxicology Models

Abstract: Release of potentially persistent, bioaccumulative and inherently toxic chemicals into the environment may cause adverse effects to plants and animals. Hundreds of thousands of chemicals are manufactured each year and experimentally assessing them for these parameters is costly, time consuming and requires animal testing. To address these concerns there has been a paradigm shift in adoption of computational chemistry and toxicology methods for assessing environmental risks posed by such chemicals. These computer-based methods harness the power of fast processors, high speed internet, statistical methods, and curated toxicological databases to fulfil this need. In this work a summary of selected publicly available computational models and databases is presented. Global regulatory agencies apply these predictive models to support their decisions. Indian regulatory bodies too could benefit from this exercise in identifying chemicals of ecotoxicological concern and in taking an appropriate regulatory decision thereby protecting the environment.