Waddell Law Offices Blog

A guide for investigating toxic chemicals

 The following is an excellent protocal for online investigation of  toxic chemicals devised by Janabeth Fleming Taylor, a well known litigation paralegal from Corpus Christi, Texas:

1.   Get the CAS number for the chemical.  This can be obtained by doing a Google search for "CAS number [insert chemical name]"

2.   Go to the news tab of Google and see if any news articles have been published for the chemical.

3.   Do a search on http://www.chemfinder.com/ using the chemical name or chemical number.  This site links to other sites which discuss exposure and other issues.

4.   Do a search on PUBMED found at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi and do a search for "chemical name AND morbidity", "chemical name AND mortality" and see what pops up. You can also search for chemical name and particular condition your client experienced after exposure.

5.    Do a search of the NIOSH online guide to toxic chemicals found at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0000.html.

These searches will provide you basic information about the toxic chemical in question and possible consequences of exposure.