Your Health and the Environment: Resources from the National Library of Medicine Shannon M. Baldwin, MPH Specialized Information Services National Library of Medicine

Quick and reliable access Quality health information Why NLM? Easy to use Quick and reliable access Quality health information FREE

National Library of Medicine What is NLM? NLM is the World’s Largest biomedical library. Many people know NLM only by its most well-known resource: Medline (also often referred to now as PubMed). But NLM has numerous resources and databases in addition to Medline that can assist the public health workforce. Today we will focus on the Environ. health and tox. resources, but will mention a few others as time permits. http://www.nlm.nih.gov

Environmental Health Information Product User Continuum Tox Town Tox Tutorials ChemIDplus Special Topics Tox Training TOXMAP Chemical Spell Checker Haz-Map TOXNET Household Products TEHIP maintains a comprehensive toxicology and environmental health web site that includes access to products which are focused across the broad spectrum of users…from professionals, such as emergency responders, public health professionals, researchers, educators, students, as well as the concerned consumer. DIRLINE WISER AIDSinfo Professional General Public

http://tox.nlm.nih.gov

Topic Page Example Here is an example of the Chem. and Drug inform. from NLM page. This clearly states that if you have a specific chemical(s) you are interested in, start with Chemidplus. In addition, researchers and health professionals may also want to look at TOXLINE, HSDB, etc. Non-professionals or students may want to try Household products or tox town. This is just a guide to help people get started and understand the variety of resources available. Please note, that these refer just to NLM resources. We are aware that many other government agencies and other organizations have fantastic resources, but these pages focus specifically on NLM resources.

Especially for Health Professionals Another example – The especially for Health Professionals page suggests several databases for starting points including TOXLINE, HSDB, Haz-Map, Chemidplus, and household products. Further down on the page, other resources for health professionals and their patients are listed.

Toxicology Tutorials Three web-based “mini-textbooks on toxicology Before we start searching the various databases, the major focus of today’s class, I do want to point out several other useful resources available. Let’s start with the Toxicology Tutorials. A number of years ago, NLM developed three mini online textbooks of toxicology that are geared at the upper undergraduate, beginning graduate level.

Toxicology Tutorial I: Basic Principles Please note that these do look a bit “old-fashioned” , but they are undergoing an overhaul – both the content and look are being changed. The tutorials are organized by chapter and offer text, graphics, and even quizzes or assessments to see if you understood the material. Includes text, graphics, and online quizzes

EnviroHealthLinks (Internet Resource Guides) Arsenic and Human Health Biological Warfare Agents Chemical Warfare Agents Children’s Environmental Health Environmental Justice Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution Toxicogenomics World Trade Center – Lingering Airborne Hazards WNV – Pesticides for Mosquito Control Another set of resources are our Internet Resource Guides or Envirohealth links. So far we have developed a handful of “lists of links” on some important env. health issues such as… We have several more in development and resource guides on indoor and outdoor air pollution, pesticides, and toxicogenomics should be available by the end of the year.

Environmental Justice Resources

Other Environmental Health and Toxicology Resources As I mentioned, our new topic and esp. for pages focus on NLM resources. For a more complete listing of env. health and tox. resources available on the web, we have compiled a list of resources by government agency, international resources, associations, etc. NLM is also developing a World Library on Toxicology and Environmental Health that will contain links to resources from many countries. Please see me if you think your organization would like to participate and provide information on toxicology resources in your country.

Tox Town: An Interactive Guide to Potentially Toxic Substances and Environmental Health Issues

Tox Town: Healthy Schools

Tox Town: EPA’s Managing Asthma in Schools

Tox Town goes Urban: City Scene Hospital Construction site Dentist office EMF Airplanes

Tox Town: Hazards in Hospitals

Tox Town: US – Mexico Border Scene

Tox Town Farm

Tox Town en Español ox Town is now available in both English, http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov and en español, http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/espanol. Visitors can learn in English or in Spanish about environmental health concerns and over 30 toxic chemicals in these imaginary neighborhoods: a City, Farm, Town, US-Mexico Border, and Port.

Household Products Database http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/ his database links over 8,000 consumer brands to health effects from Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) provided by manufacturers and allows scientists and consumers to research products based on chemical ingredients. The database is designed to help answer the following typical questions: What are the chemical ingredients and their percentage in specific brands? Which products contain specific chemical ingredients? Who manufactures a specific brand? How do I contact this manufacturer? What are the acute and chronic effects of chemical ingredients in a specific brand? What other information is available about chemicals in the toxicology-related databases of the National Library of Medicine?

Household Products Database Click Products Tab Select Brand: Arrid Extra Dry A&D Spray

Household Products: Brand Information Manufacturer Health Effects Handling/Disposal Ingredients

Household Products: Health Effects

Household Products: Ingredients

Household Products: Chemical Information

Haz-Map: An Occupational Health Database Links jobs and hazardous tasks to occupational diseases, symptoms, & agents

Haz-Map: An Occupational Health Database Search example: Potential causes of dizziness and chest tightness in farmers

Haz-Map: Organophosphate pesticide poisoning in farm workers

Haz-Map: Link to PubMed

Haz-Map: Link to Potential Agents Scroll down to the agents section and select organo-phosphates

Haz-Map: Link to Chlorpyrifos Select chlorpyrifos from the list of organo-phosphates

TOXMAP Mapping EPA Toxic Release Sites http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov Enter a quick search here Search example: Chemical: Benzene City: Saint Louis State: MO

Facilities releasing Benzene near Saint Louis, MO

Identify Facilities on Map

List all chemicals released by facility

Links to Health Information Click on the link in the left margin which opens a pop-up window to the benzene record in NLM’s Hazardous Substance Data Bank

Benzene Trends over Time near Saint Louis, MO Triangles indicate net increase or decrease from 1987-2005

Medline Plus Home Page http://medlineplus.gov

Medline Plus Health Topics Select the Health Topics Tab

Medline Plus Health Tutorials

Medline Plus Drug Information

Medline Plus en español

TOXNET http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov Search All databases for the effects of TCE on children NLM’s premier toxicology and env. health resource is TOXNET. TOXNET is a collection of a variety of types of databases, including online handbooks, bibliographic databases, information on the release of chemicals in the environment, and chemical names and structures. Here is a sample search. Enter your search and all databases are searched and the number of records retrieved from each displayed. Here we are looking for the effects of the chemical TCE (also known as trichloroethylene) on children. Now click on the number next to HSDB or the Hazardous Substances Data Bank

Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) Search Results

HSDB TCE Record: Information on Children Human Health Effects Emergency Medical Treatment Environmental Fate/Exposure Environmental Standards & Regulations Chemical/Physical Properties Here is the HSDB TCE record. HSDB is an online handbook containing comprehensive information on the toxic effects of over 4,500 chemicals. Information such as Human health effects, emergency medical treatment, environmental fate and exposure, standards and regulations, safety and handling, as well as chemical and physical properties are described. Click on the type of information you are interested in on the left and the data appears on the right.

TOXLINE TOXLINE is a bibliographic database of toxicology literature from scientific journals, technical reports, ongoing research reports, and unpublished data submitted to the EPA.

TOXLINE Search Results

WISER Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders

WISER http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov Information tailored for emergency responders Assist in identifying unknown substances Emergency treatment and containment information Stand-alone with enhanced connected (wireless) capabilities

Click to walk through views

NLM Environmental Health Listservs What’s new from NLM’s Environmental Health and Toxicology Program How to keep up? NLM offers two env. health listservs. Both are announcement only and you rarely get more than one message a week for each. The first is a way to keep up with our env. health resources. After today, you may want to join and find out what’s new – new databases, additions to databases, etc. Approximately once a week (and usually less often) you will receive a message about new activities or updates to our resources. The second listserv is to keep up with env. health issues in the news. Through medline plus you have access to the latest medical news from Reuters, NY Times, etc. Rather than going to the medlineplus news and looking up environmental health, simply join the listserv and get a once a week message about env. health articles published in the popular press. Environmental health issues in the news

For More Information on your Health and the Environment Contact: Specialized Information Services National Library of Medicine tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov http://sis.nlm.nih.gov 301-496-1131 I hope we’ve highlighted some of NLM’s long-standing and upcoming resources on environmental health. There are many other interesting activities in NLM’s Specialized Information Services division which we did not get to highlight today, so please contact us if you have any questions or want more information. We are starting a new NLM announcements listserv on environmental health and toxicology and we will pass out sign up sheets if you are interested in keeping up-to-date with our resources and services. Thank you for your time.