The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #70434

Martha Szczur¹, Stacey J. Arnesen, MS¹, Florence Chang, MS¹, Gale Dutcher, MLS, MS², George Hazard, PhD¹, Vera Hudson, MS¹, Cynthia Love, MLS¹, Phillip Thomas, PhD¹, and Chris Krahe, MS³. (1) Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite 510, Bethesda, MD 20892, 301-496-6073, szczurm@mail.nlm.nih.gov, (2) Specialized Information Services Division, Office of Outreach and Special Populations, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Suite 510, Room 518, Bethesda, MD 20892, (3) Aquilent, Inc., 1100 West Street, Laurel, MD 20707

From exposure to pesticides to the safety of the water supply, public health professionals are responsible for ensuring the public’s safety from environmental hazards. Access to reliable, timely information is vital for these activities. The Internet is replete with environmental health web sites but with so many sites, it can be difficult to identify high quality, accurate information. The National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), sponsors the Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) which disseminates scientific and consumer health information (http://tox.nlm.nih.gov) for free on the web. This session will demonstrate the application of NLM’s environmental health resources and databases to public health topics. Unique features and integration of information from multiple databases will be highlighted. The presentations will focus on TOXNET (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov), a network of toxicology and environmental health databases; Haz-Map (http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov), an occupational health database; Tox Town (http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov), an interactive guide to potentially hazardous substances in the environment; Tox Map, a pilot project that creates maps showing the location of toxic chemical releases; and Household Products, a database identifying product brand names, their chemical ingredients, and health and safety warnings from manufacturer labels and Material Safety Data Sheets. The value of these resources as tools for either public health professionals, the general public, or both will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• 3. Locate major online environmental health information resources
  6. Identify key resources from NLM’s Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP)
  9. Perform basic searches in the TOXNET, Haz-Map, Tox Map, and Household Products databases.