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Toxicant & Disease Database

Toxicant and Disease Database

The CHE Toxicant and Disease Database is a searchable database that summarizes links between chemical contaminants and approximately 180 human diseases or conditions. Diseases and or toxicants can be viewed by utilizing the search options below. In 2025, we have also added links to information available in the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). See a full description of the database and our methodology.

See also our compilation of other Databases and Resources.

For questions or comments about the database, please contact us through our Contact form.

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Scleroderma

Causes Grouped by strength of evidence

Strong Evidence silica	Good Evidence 1,1,1-trichloroethane benzene carbon tetrachloride paint thinners / removers solvents toluene trichloroethylene (TCE) vinyl chloride xylene	Limited Evidence epoxy resins estrogens / DES herbicides mercury metaphenylenediamine n-Hexane naphtha silicone / parafin breast implants tetrachloroethylene (PCE)

Notes

Occupational silica exposure has been associated with the development of scleroderma in males but not females. The scleroderma-like syndrome caused by vinyl chloride has been shown to occur in groups with HLA-DR5, similar to patients with classic idiopathic scleroderma. A case of scleroderma has been reported after exposure to a herbicide containing a combination of bromobutyl methyl uracil, dichlorophenyl dimethylurea, and aminotriazole.

ADDITIONAL DATA: The toxicant–disease relationships shown above were last updated in 2011. The relationships shown here are still valid, but additional research has been conducted since that time. Additional research on this disease can be found at this link:

COMPARATIVE TOXICOGENOMICS DATABASE: CURATED RESULTS
Scleroderma, Systemic

This link will direct your search to an external database, the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). This database is different from, and complementary to, our database.

More information about sources and methods

CHE’s Toxicant and Disease Database evaluates existing evidence and categorizes that evidence based on its strength. It is constructed using expert judgment and epidemiological causal inference.
The CTD, in contrast, is a continually updated resource that presents information on a broad range of literature on chemical-disease relationships. It also provides data on genes, biological processes, and phenotypes related to chemicals and diseases. It does not categorize information based on strength of evidence, include an expert judgment process, or draw causal conclusions about toxicant-disease relationships.
The link we have provided on this page goes directly to CTD's curated results, which are a subset of the information available through CTD. Curated results in CTD are those for which studies are available on the toxicant-disease relationship.