Many accidental and deliberate poisonings occur from exposure to consumer products. In order for the NPIS to provide accurate advice on the treatment and management of such patients, reliable information on the composition of consumer products is necessary. Product datasheets (MSDS) also provide information for updating TOXBASE, enabling end-users to obtain specific advice on many common products.

NPIS (Birmingham Unit) has the responsibility of providing product data to all NPIS Units. The Birmingham Unit proactively contacts manufacturers to ensure that product data are comprehensive and up-to-date. In 2007/8, some 8,500 MSDS were added to the NPIS Product Data Centre; currently the NPIS Product Data Centre holds some 50,000 MSDS, which are accessible by other Units on a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week basis. The database can be accessed by product name, manufacturer, date of MSDS, and the date the MSDS was added to the database. 

In practice, the vast majority of enquiries can be dealt with by searching by product name (full or partial name) and/or by manufacturer. The nature of most poisoning exposures is such that this is the information that is generally given to medical personnel and then passed on to the NPIS. The date of the MSDS can differentiate between information on updated formulations. Where these fields are not sufficient, the database is also fully text searchable, which enables searches to be made on any other criteria, e.g. active ingredients or use.

The NPIS (Birmingham Unit) has developed an Access-based database to support the NPIS Product Data Centre. The database holds contact details for more than 2,500 companies and assists in the tracking of correspondence with companies. It also includes data on the current marketing status of products.