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Healthy Environment, Healthy Child Internet Resource Guide for Parents
The following are included in this guide:
Environmental Health, Information, Education, and AdvocacyAlliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning (AECLP) offers newsletters, fact sheets, policy statements, and other resources useful to preventing lead poisoning among children. Among fact sheet topics are general information on lead poisoning, testing homes, screening children, and advice on painting and rehabilitation. Policy statements cover health care reimbursement, tenant/landlord rights, and other areas such as new strategies for low income housing. American Lung Association has a proven commitment to environmental health. Topics of air quality, chemical hazards in school and workplace settings, and tobacco control are covered in depth on their website with recent statistics available. Materials available (several also offered in Spanish) include: Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit, Protecting Yourself from Air Pollution, Working Safely With Chemicals, How to Read a Material Safety Data Sheet, as well as tobacco material targeted to youth and adults. American Lung Association (ALA) of Washington has developed a Home Environmental Assessment List (HEAL) consisting of a 10 page checklist used by Master Home Environmentalist volunteers when doing a general environmental assessment in a community member's home. It's also available in a 5 page Do-It-Yourself version. For copies, contact Aileen Gagney, agagney@alaw.org, 1-800-732-9339, or 1-800-lungusa - American Lung Association - Master Home Environmentalist Program. Beyond Pesticides, a service of the National Coalition against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP), provides access to a national directory of least toxic service providers and has programs on pesticide use in schools and public buildings, pesticide legislation, exposure of children to polluted soils around public utility poles. The site includes a fact sheet on What to Do in a Pesticide Emergency. Bio-Integral Resource (BIRC) is a nonprofit organization offering over 25 years of insight experience, and leadership in the development and communication of least-toxic, environmentally sound, integrated pest management (IPM) methods and policies of urban and agricultural applications. Center for Informed Decision-Making has as its objective to help citizens make informed decisions about important environmental, health, and safety issues. Their web site explains the basics of environmental and health assessments, provides case studies, offers expert forums, and links to additional resources. Center for Health, Environment and Justice trains and assists local people to fight for justice, become empowered to protect their communities from environmental threats and build strong, locally controlled organizations. CHEJ connects these local groups with each other to build a movement from the bottom up. CHEJ has several national campaigns: Stop Dioxin Exposure; Health Care Without Harm; and Child Proofing our Communities. Children's Environmental Health Network is a national project dedicated to pediatric environmental health. The Network's mission is to promote a healthy environment and to protect the fetus and the child from environmental hazards. Three areas of concentration for the Network are education, research, and policy. Publications include numerous fact sheets in English and Spanish on toxic chemicals, as well as the CEHN Training Manual on Pediatric Environmental Health. In addition to explaining children's vulnerability, routes of exposure, absorption, metabolism, etc., it also explains adult teaching methods and effective learning techniques. Children's Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC) is a charitable, nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public, specifically parents and caregivers, about environmental toxins that affect children's health.
http://www.checnet.org Duke University Occupational & Environmental Medicine hosts a very large and diverse web site with multiple links to sources of environmental and occupational health information. One of the best on the web. Offers a listserve for clinicians and public health professionals to instantly communicate with one another. EnviroLink is a nonprofit organization that attempts to link all grassroots organizations and volunteers through an online community. The site provides information and referral links through the Library on a variety of topics including activism and education. Current awareness on environmental topics worldwide is done through the News Service. The Sustainable Business Network is a marketplace for information about and resources from businesses that practice environmentally sound operations. Environmental Health Center was established in 1988 as a division of the National Safety Council to improve public understanding of significant health risks and challenges facing modern society. Their homepage is useful for public education and outreach efforts, emergency planning and management, and environmental journalism. They offer Environmental Journalism Resources, Hazardous Chemical Backgrounders (fact sheets on physical properties, health effects, economics, and regulations), information on air quality, children's health, climate change, radioactive and solid waste, as well as water quality. Environmental Health Clearinghouse, a service of Information Ventures, Inc. and sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is staffed by junior and senior scientists trained in environmental health issues. Questions can be directed to them over the telephone (800-643-4794, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., EST); by electronic mail (envirohealth@niehs.nih.gov); or through their Internet site. In response to questions, the clearinghouse staff will conduct customized research, perform literature searches, and mail results to requestors. The clearinghouse also offers fact sheets on pesticides, environmental impact statements, human and ecological risk assessments, and information packets on a variety of topics. Among the environmental topics included in the clearinghouse collection are health effects, worker exposure, waste site and chemical spills and releases information, materials for schools and students, environmental justice issues, and women's health issues. Environmental Information on the WWW lists non-commercial sites on specific environmental topics. Links are provided for waste management and recycling, air and water pollution, chemicals and toxic substances, sustainable development, and other topics. Environmental Research Foundation provides information to grass-roots community activists, environmentalists, journalists, librarians, and others to further environmental justice at the local level. It specializes in information on hazardous substances and technologies, including landfills, incinerators, pesticides, organochlorine compounds, risk assessments, and their effects on human and environmental health. A newsletter, Rachel's Environment & Health News is available by e-mail. Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition with 425 member organizations in 52 countries that represents hospitals, health care professionals, environmental advocates, organizations of health- impacted individuals, religious organizations, student groups, and labor unions. It focuses on encouraging health care institutions to stop using products made with PVC plastic and mercury that release dioxin, mercury and other toxic substances into the environment when they are burned as waste. Its mission is to transform the health care industry so it is no longer a source of environmental harm by eliminating pollution in health care practices without compromising safety or care. Healthy Schools Network (HSN) is a nationally recognized, state-based advocate for the protection of children's environmental health in schools. HSN strives to build awareness of children's environmental health needs and assure every child and school employee an environmentally healthy school, through research, information and referral, advocacy, and coalition building. Indiana Department of Environmental Management offers Simple Steps for Families (to make the environment a better place) available to download from their website. Included is a series of posters and brochures that are very well illustrated to demonstrate household hazards. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) is a Minnesota-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology and advocacy. IATP raises awareness about pollutants in food and from food production, their sources, and their demonstrated or possible impacts on human health. IATP helps consumers make safe food choices by providing tools like the Eat Well Guide and the Smart Fish Guide. IATP advocates for health protective public policies and pollution prevention and provides information for the public and providers on the following issues: use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, public health impacts of factory farming, pesticides, toxins in sludge and fertilizers, children's environmental health and persistent toxic pollutants, such as mercury, brominated flame retardants and dioxins. IATP provides key leadership in the following initiatives: Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), Keep Antibiotics Working, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment and Mercury Free Minnesota. Institute for Children's Environmental Health (ICEH) is a non-profit educational organization working to ensure a healthy, just, and sustainable future for children. The primary mission of ICEH is to foster collaborative initiatives to mitigate environmental exposures that can undermine the health of current and future generations. Their site includes a primer on Environmental Health Basics that lists multi-media resources and hotlinks. ICEH hosts a Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment that organizations can join. Institute for Global Communications provides a gateway to five online communities of activists and organizations working for peace, conflict resolution and negotiation, labor force representation, women in development, and environmental health and ecology (through EcoNet). Each network provides worldwide coverage for current awareness. IGC also maintains a member's directory. International Joint Commission (IJC) is a collaboration between the U.S. and Canada to address water quality along boundary waters between the two nations. The IJC Health Professionals Task Force offers Environmental Health in Family Medicine modules on lead, outdoor air, indoor air, pesticides, water quality, and persistent organic pollutants that can be downloaded at no charge. Also available free on their site is The Health Effects Review, a quarterly review and summary of the scientific literature on human health effects and environmental pollutants. Medweb offers numerous on-line links to public and private environment and health resources. Minnesota Department of Health has created a web site to improve access to information about children's environmental health. The site describes MDH programs and activities related to a variety of children's environmental health issues, including cancer surveillance, school indoor air quality, chemical exposures, health professional education and asthma. The site also provides information about practical steps to prevent and reduce children's exposures to common chemicals. Our Stolen Future is a scientific detective story that explores the emerging science of endocrine disruption: how some synthetic chemicals interfere with the ways that hormones work in humans and wildlife. The website is the web home for the authors of Our Stolen Future, where they provide regular updates about the cutting edge of science related to endocrine disruption. They also post information about ongoing policy debates, as well as new suggestions about what people can do as consumers and citizens to minimize risks related to hormonally- disruptive contaminants. Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA) advocates the adoption of ecologically sound practices as an alternative to pesticide use. With other groups, it promotes sustainable agriculture, food security, and social justice. In addition to action alerts, connections to other organizations, fact sheets, and reports, the PESTIS database is available to search online for information on specific pesticides and alternatives. Another feature maintained is the PANNA Pesticides and Children Web Page that offers links to information and resources regarding children's unique vulnerability to pesticides. Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is a national organization of physicians, health professionals and supporters dedicated to addressing the public health impacts of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, environmental degradation and community violence. PSR has mobilized an Environment and Health Network that links activists and issue experts around the world to address serious environmental threats to human survival. The national PSR website has information for the public and providers on topics of medical waste, persistent toxic pollutants, health effects of global climate change, incineration and dioxin, pesticides, safe food and drinking water, clean air and water, and children's environmental health.
Preventing Harm is a project of the Clean Water Fund to increase awareness of how learning and behavioral developmental disabilities may be related to toxics in air, water or food. This site is geared towards parents and parents-to-be, physicians and health care professionals, educators, and environmentalists working together to learn more, find resources, share what we learn, and take family and community action to protect children from environmental harm during vulnerable periods of development. Sustainable Communities Network promotes communications and collaborations among grassroots and community-based programs. Groups involved in environmental protection efforts such as recycling, conservation, watershed and wildlife protection share case studies and resources. University of California at Berkeley maintains a resource guide to Toxicology and Occupational Health Resources. The site links to agencies, publications and databases. University of Minnesota Extension Service offers Lead - Your Safe Home, a Hmong/English information guide (6-page) that contains information on where lead is found, what happens when lead gets in our bodies, should a child be tested for lead, and how to protect children. Call the University of Minnesota Distribution Center at (612) 625-8173 or contact: University of Wisconsin Extension offers Help Your Self to a Healthy Home, a 24-page booklet, including five short home environment checklists -"Questions to Ask" on air, lead, drinking water, hazardous household products, and pesticides. Designed as a self-assessment screening tool for parents and other caregivers. Washington Toxics Coalition is dedicated to protecting public health and the environment by identifying and promoting alternatives to toxic chemicals. They advance research, grassroots organizing, publications and presentations, conferences, and provide a Toxics Hotline to provide reliable information about preventing pollution in homes, schools, workplaces, agriculture, and industry. You can also access online their guide, Protecting Children from Toxic Exposures, that includes facts on topics such as air, lead, drinking water, hazardous household products, and pesticides. Site-Specific Environmental InformationEnvirofacts contains data from five EPA systems that are used to assist the Agency in monitoring and overseeing compliance with federal regulations. The general public can use this source to obtain information about facilities in their community. The five systems represented are: 1) Aerometric Information Retrieval System Facility Subsystem (which contains air pollution data for about 150,000 regulated facilities), 2) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Information System (Superfund data on hazardous waste sites), 3) Permit Compliance System (water discharge permit information for over 75,000 facilities), 4) Resource Conservation and Recovery Information System (data used to track handler permit or closure status for over 450,000 facilities and transporters), and 5) Toxic Release Inventory System (data on releases of over 600 toxic chemicals by over 33,000 reporting facilities). Online queries and mapping tools are also available through this site. Environmental Defense provides a wonderful site, Scorecard.org, for geographically specific information about toxic chemicals in the United States: where they come from in your community, what their human health effects are, and what actions you can take. Risk Screening Environmental Indicators is a computer-based (Windows) model that is also available through the EPA to help interpret the information that you find. The model permits screening-level analysis of risk-related impacts of toxic chemical releases and transfers in the U.S. Federal Government SitesAgency for Toxics Substances and Disease Registry has as its mission to prevent exposure and adverse human health effects associated with exposure to hazardous substances from waste sites, unplanned releases, and other sources of pollution. ATSDR is mandated by the US Congress to assess waste sites, respond to emergency releases of hazardous substances, and to perform and support research and education. Their web site leads to summaries and reports of hazardous substances, guidebooks, and HazDat (a database of information about Superfund sites, hazardous substance releases, and health effects). The site is also useful for the links it provides through the ATSDR Information Center Bookmarks. Children's Environmental Health & Safety Inventory of Research (CHEHSIR) is a publicly accessible database created to ensure that researchers and federal research agencies have access to information on all research conducted or funded by the federal government that is related to adverse health risks in children resulting from exposure to environmental health risks or safety risks. This information is available to the public, scientific, and academic communities, as well as all federal agencies. Environmental Health Project (EHP) was established by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Its goal is to assist the agency to achieve reductions in illness and death among children under five in developing countries from major diseases related to environmental conditions. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides a wealth of information about EPA activities, products, recommendations, and requirements on its extensive website. The site leads to information about community participation, resources for environmental education, grant information, chemical fact sheets, pesticides, software and database resources, hotlines, EPA libraries, regional and state contacts, and more. EPA Office of Children's Health Protection serves as a clearinghouse for EPA's initiatives and information on children's health. Contains links to fact sheets on a range of exposures, provides information on current research, where you can get additional information.
Healthfinder® is a free gateway to reliable consumer health and human service information developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthfinder can lead you to select online publications, clearinghouses, databases, web sites, and support and self-help groups, as well as the government agencies and not-for-profit organizations that produce reliable information for the public. National Center for Environmental Health is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides leadership to promote health and quality of life by preventing or controlling those diseases, birth defects, or disabilities resulting from interaction between people and the environment. Their site has information and education resources on a broad range of topics, including asthma, birth defects, radiation, sanitation, and lead in blood. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has a good site for information of public interest concerning human productive health. Included is access to scientific assessments of reproductive health risks associated with human exposures to naturally occurring and man-made chemicals. National Library of Medicine (NLM) hosts the Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) which provides a wealth of health, toxicological, chemical, and chemical release information. TEHIP databases are available on the Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET), a free web-based search system. It is also a gateway to MEDLINE. Among the many databases available from Toxnet are:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/databases_medline.html Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is entrusted with overseeing worker protection and enforcement of workplace standards. Web site offers information and links on programs and services, compliance assistance, standards, and technical information. Chemical Fact SheetsEPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics provides Chemical Fact Sheets and technical summary documents. Some of these fact sheets are available through the Internet. EXTOXNET is a cooperative effort of the University of California, Davis, Oregon State University, Michigan State University, and Cornell University. Together, they maintain Pesticide Information Profiles, a databank of profiles on over 160 pesticides. Each profile covers acute and chronic toxicity, environmental effects, manufacturing information, and references. These profiles are not based on an exhaustive literature search; nevertheless, they are highly informative and supplement the information found on pesticide product labeling and other sources. Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) contains EPA carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risk assessment and regulatory information on over 500 chemicals. The risk assessment data have been scientifically reviewed by groups of EPA scientists and represent EPA consensus. IRIS also contains EPA Drinking Water Health Advisories and literature references. Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) is a comprehensive, scientifically reviewed, factual database containing records for over 4500 toxic or potentially toxic chemicals. It contains extensive information in such areas as toxicity, environmental fate, human exposure, chemical safety, waste disposal, emergency handling, and regulatory requirements. Material Safety Data Sheets are designed for workers and emergency personnel to provide guidance on proper procedures for handling and working with toxic substances. The sheets include physical data, toxicity, health effects, first aid, storage and disposal procedures, and more. Many sites on the Internet include MSDS. New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services Right to Know Program provides online access to hundreds of chemical fact sheets. Information on each fact sheet includes: identification, hazard summary, how to determine exposure, workplace exposure limits, ways of reducing exposure, acute and chronic health hazard information, workplace controls and practices, personal protective equipment, safe handling and storage, definitions of terms, information on flammability and reactivity, and recommended first aid practices. ToxFAQs is a series of over 50 summaries of hazardous substances being developed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Division. Each fact sheet provides answers to frequently asked questions about exposure to substances found around hazardous waste sites and corresponding human health effects. Hotlines and ClearinghousesAir and RadiationU.S. EPA Air RISC Hotline U.S. EPA National Indoor Air Quality Information Hotline LeadNational Safety Council's National Lead Information Center Community Right-to-KnowU.S. EPA Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know (EPCRA) Information Hotline RTK-Net U.S. EPA TRI User Support Service Environmental JusticeOffice of Environmental Justice Small Grants Program Consumer Product SafetyU.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Hotline Electromagnetic FieldsU.S. EPA Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Infoline Hazardous EmergenciesChemtrac Emergency Spill Information HealthMarch of Dimes Occupational Safety and HealthClearinghouse for Occupational Safety and Health Information (at Center for Disease Control) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Referral Service Pesticides and ToxicsNational Pesticide Information Center Pollution PreventionU.S. EPA Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse Technology Transfer Center at the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell Water and WastewaterNational Drinking Water Technical Assistance Unit, West Virginia University U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline U.S. EPA Water Resource Center GeneralTechnology Transfer Publications and Support Division U.S. EPA Directory Assistance U.S. EPA National Service Center for Environmental Publications National Technical Information Service (NTIS) U.S. Government Printing Office Acknowledgement: This guide is based on materials developed by the JSI Center for Environmental Health Studies (www.jsi.com). |
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Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility || 727 Massachusetts Avenue - 2nd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139 |
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This resource listing is a general introduction to environmental health information that is readily available on the Internet or through hotlines and clearinghouses. The purpose of the resource listing is to direct patients, parents and the general public who are in search of environmental and health information to a few good starting points that will yield useful information. It is not a comprehensive guide but should serve to get you started