Risk Information Exchange

The Risk Information Exchange (RiskIE) is an Internet database created in 2007 by Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA). The database provides in-progress and recently completed chemical risk assessments, and is open for anyone to upload relevant information. By allowing for user input of projects, RiskIE is perhaps the first chemical risk database open for global participation. As a potential global tracking system, RiskIE might enable scientists to keep abreast of current chemical evaluations, identify opportunities for collaborations, and decide how to efficiently proceed with chemical registration, such as that of the European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). According to Wullenweber et al. (2008), whereas risk databases have historically managed the risk data of a single country/organization (with some exceptions, e.g., Risk Assessment Information System (RAIS), International Toxicity Estimates for Risk (ITER), Toxipedia), RiskIE offers a centralized database open to all.

Prior to starting the nonprofit corporation TERA in 1995, Dourson worked for fifteen years as a toxicologist with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. After 21 years as an independent organization, TERA has recently been subsumed by the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, where it continues its mission to protect public health.

According to Wullenweber in 2008, TERA provides an online database International Toxicity Estimates for Risk (ITER) database, which "provides chronic human health risk assessment data from a variety of organizations worldwide in a side-by-side format, explains differences in risk values derived by different organizations, and links directly to each organization's website for more detailed information. It is also the only database that includes risk information from independent parties whose risk values have undergone independent peer review."

ITER and RiskIE are also resources that support the mission of the Alliance for Risk Assessment (ARA) by tracking up-to-date information on risk assessment activities and risk assessment values."

The Alliance for Risk Assessment (ARA)—is a gentle persons' agreement of three nonprofit organizations, a steering group of scientists from multiple government bodies, and over 100 participating organizations on one or more projects. ARA fosters collaborations among stakeholders to leverage limited resources. Databases such as ITER and RiskIE bridge the communication gap between government, industry, academic, and environmental stakeholders. For example, ARA hosts panel discussions with scientists from government, industries, nonprofits and universities on specific chemicals or risk assessment issues.

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