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ToxicDocs: A database of once-secret chemical industry documents

Pollution, environmental and human health

Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE)
Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE)

In this webinar, one of the ToxicDocs founders, Dr. Merlin Chowkwanyun, will give an overview of this continuously growing dataset, introducing the interface, explaining the technology behind it, and offering a tour of the searchable content.

  • Date (DD-MM-YYYY)

    14-10-2025

  • Time (GMT/BST)

    Starts at 19:00

  • Cost

    Free

  • Education type

    Virtual

  • CPD subtype

    Scheduled

Description

The ToxicDocs dataset and website contain millions of pages of industry documents about lead, asbestos, silica, PCBs, and other toxic substances. This collection includes internal memoranda, emails, slides, board minutes, unpublished scientific studies, and other documents that became publicly available through toxic tort litigation. 

The resource has been tapped by researchers, journalists, and others exploring a new world of environmental health risk and how it came to be.

The collection is curated by data scientists and researchers at Columbia University's Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health and the City University of New York's Graduate Center. Recent innovations in parallel and cloud computing have made it easier to convert these documents into machine-readable, searchable text.

The discussion will be moderated by CHE Science Communications Fellow Haleigh Cavalier.

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