Database-driven chemical information integration: analysis of substances investigated by the investigative committee on risk assessment for preventing impairment of workers' health caused by chemical substances by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan.

Abstract

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's (MHLW) Investigative Committee on Risk Assessment for Preventing Impairment of Workers' Health Caused by Chemical Substances has investigated the carcinogenicity of chemical substances. This investigation led several chemicals to be regulated; however, the whole picture of the investigation remains unrevealed. To provide an overview of the investigated substances and their evaluation status, we collected documents on the MHLW website between 2009 and 2021, constructed a dataset from tables of some of these documents, integrated data from the constructed dataset with data from databases such as NITE-CHRIP, and then analyzed the data in the aspects of their chemical structure, chemical management law, evaluation method, and evaluation status. We found that most of the investigated substances were existing chemicals for which employers are exempt from hazard investigations under the chemical management laws and remained in the early phases of the investigation strategy developed by the Investigative Committee. Furthermore, a comparison of basic data for risk assessment on 45 substances under assessment revealed that some have the potential for harm to be regulated. This study highlights challenges and necessities of the Japanese government's chemical management initiative for chemicals that pose a high risk to humans.