Ravichandran, Janani; Bagavathy Shanmugam Karthikeyan; Jurgen Jost and Areejit Samal
Exposure to environmental chemicals during early childhood is a potential health concern. At a tender age, children are exposed to fragrance chemicals used in toys and child care products. Although there are few initiatives in Europe and United States towards monitoring and regulation of fragrance chemicals in children's products, such efforts are still lacking elsewhere. Besides there has been no systematic effort to create a database compiling the surrounding knowledge on fragrance chemicals used in children's products from published literature. Here, we built a database of Fragrance Chemicals in Children's Products (FCCP) that compiles information on 153 fragrance chemicals from published literature. The fragrance chemicals in FCCP have been classified based on their chemical structure, children's product source, chemical origin and odor profile. Moreover, we have also compiled the physicochemical properties, predicted Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity (ADMET) properties, molecular descriptors and human target genes for the fragrance chemicals in FCCP. After building FCCP, we performed multiple analyses of the associated fragrance chemical space. Firstly, we assessed the regulatory status of the fragrance chemicals in FCCP through a comparative analysis with 21 chemical lists reflecting current guidelines or regulations. We find that several fragrance chemicals in children's products are potential carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, neurotoxicants, phytotoxins and skin sensitizers. Secondly, we performed a similarity network based analysis of the fragrance chemicals in children's products to reveal the high structural diversity of the associated chemical space. Lastly, we identified skin sensitizing fragrance chemicals in children's products using ToxCast assays. In a nutshell, we present a comprehensive resource and detailed analysis of fragrance chemicals in children's products highlighting the need for their better risk assessment and regulation to deliver safer products for children. FCCP is accessible at: https://cb.imsc.res.in/fccp.