Environmental Health

Health care providers and consumers alike are growing increasingly aware of the impact of the environment on the health of individuals. This awareness is reflected in the wide range of groups who have developed environmental health-related websites. These websites number in the thousands, and are the creations of companies, universities, individuals, coalitions, or government organizations.

The Health Sciences and Human Services Library's Environmental Health web page links users to a small number of selected websites that may be useful to both health care providers and consumers. See selection criteria.

For background information, see "What is Environmental Health?"

CLEARINGHOUSES

• The Environmental Health Clearinghouse provides information on a variety of environmental health issues and contains links to other sources of environmental health information. It also provides fee-based access to OSH-DB, an Occupational Safety & Health Database and to Reprotox, an information system on environmental hazards to human reproduction and development.
  
• The ERP North Carolina Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Site includes links to comprehensive lead poisoning sites, prevention and abatement sites, organizations dedicated to lead poisoning prevention, and "Lead in Your Home: A Parent's Prevention Guide" (EPA).
  
• The Indoor Air Quality Information Clearinghouse (IAQ INFO) provides EPA publications on many aspects of indoor air quality, covering indoor air pollutants and their sources, the health effects of indoor air pollution, and the control of indoor air quality. IAQ INFO also contains general information on federal and state indoor air legislation.

DATABASES

• Haz-Map is an occupational health database designed for health and safety professionals and for consumers seeking information about the health effects of exposure to chemicals at work. Haz-Map links jobs and hazardous tasks with occupational diseases and their symptoms.
  
• Household Products Database links over 4,000 consumer brands to health effects from Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) provided by the manufacturers and allows scientists and consumers to research products based on chemical ingredients.
  
  
• MEDLINEplus is the National Library of Medicine's consumer-oriented health site. Environmental health resources are listed in categories covering children's health, directories, newsletters, law and policy, organizations, research, and specific conditions or aspects of environmental health.
  
  
• Toxnet is a cluster of databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, and related areas. Databases include Toxline, the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), ChemIDplus, Development and Reproductive Toxicology (DART), the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), Genetic Toxicology/Mutagenicity (Gene-Tox), and the Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System (CCRIS).

GLOSSARIES

• Glossary of Children's Environmental Health Terms on the Children's Environmental Health Network.
  
  
• Indoor Air Quality Glossary of Terms on the Environmental Protection Agency's Indoor Air Quality website.



• The National Safety Council's Environmental Glossary.



• The New York State Department of Health's Glossary of Environmental Health Terms is intended to help people become familiar with terms likely to be seen in government reports, engineering studies and health literature. It is divided into four sections: terms, agencies (primarily from New York state), units of measure, and conversion tables.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

• The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry [ATSDR]'s site addresses the relationship between exposure to hazardous substances and human health. Information designed for children, parents, teachers, doctors and nurses on children's environmental health issues is featured. This site also provides access to ToxFAQs, fact sheets which answer the most frequently asked health questions about hazardous substances, and HazDat, the Hazardous Substances Release database. The Top 20 Hazardous Substances, and the National Exposure Registry are also available.
  
  
• The Environmental Health Policy Committee [EHPC] has been established to coordinate policy development for environmental health activities related to the mission of the U.S. Public Health Service and its agencies. It serves as the primary focal point within the Department of Health and Human Services for promoting the exchange of environmental health information, and for providing review, advice, and consensus facilitation where necessary on environmental health research, exposure assessments, risk assessments, and risk management procedures.
  
  
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) website contains a feature, Browse EPA Topics, where users may look for specific items of interest. Included is a section on Human Health. Health topics include advisories, children's health, exposure, health risk, occupational health and sun protection.
  
  
• Indoor Air Quality, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This is the home page for EPA’s Indoor Environments Division. Topics cover basic information, EPA publications, mold and mildew, asthma, indoor air quality in schools, homes and workplaces, children’s health, and Homeland Security and the Indoor Environment.
  
  
• The U.S. EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection (OCHP) was established to implement EPA's commitment to protect children from environmental health hazards. OCHP's mission is to make the protection of children's health a fundamental goal of public health and environmental protection in the United States. This site provides information on what the EPA and other federal agencies are doing, as well as information on how individual citizens and communities can participate in making the environment safer for children.
  
  
• Maryland's Office of Environmental Health web site covers environmental health issues, lists Maryland's environmental health units, includes environmental legislation, and provides access to the Maryland Cancer Registry.
  
  
• The National Center for Environmental Health [CDC] is a resource for environmental health specialists and other public health professionals, and for anyone interested in reducing illness and death due to environmentally-related disease and injury. It includes information on environmental health issues of current interest, government and educational resources, and links to state, local, national and international environmental health organizations. The "NCEH Health Topics" section covers air pollution, carbon monoxide poisoning, lead poisoning, and molds in the environment.
  
  
• The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [NIH] site discusses environment-related diseases and health risks, lists the Institute's research initiatives, and includes environmental fact sheets and pamphlets published by NIEHS.
  
  
• The National Library of Medicine's Environmental Health and Toxicology site includes links to databases, bibliographies, tutorials, and other scientific and consumer-oriented resources produced by the TEHIP and other government agencies and organizations. Includes "Hurricane Katrina: Links to Health Information, including toxicology and environmental health."
  

JOURNALS

The following are in the Health Sciences & Human Services Library's Electronic Journals collection. These journals are available to faculty, staff and students of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. A Library Barcode is required to access the journals from off campus.

• American journal of environmental sciences  
• Annals of agricultural and environmental medicine  
• Applied and environmental microbiology
• Applied ecology and environmental research        
• Applied occupational and environmental hygiene
• Archives of environmental health  
• Aviation, space, and environmental medicine
• EHP toxicogenomics: Journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• Electronic journal of environmental, agricultural and food chemistry
• Environmental design construction
• Environmental education research
• Environmental health
• Environmental health and preventive medicine
• Environmental health perspectives
• Environmental health perspectives. Supplements
• Environmental justice quarterly
• Envir onmental microbiology
• Environmental nutrition     
• Environmental research
• Environmental reviews
• Environmental science & technology
• Environmental toxicology and pharmacology  
• Ethics in science and environmental politics:ESEP
• European journal of pharmacology. Environmental toxicology and pharmacology section
• Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicine
• International archives of occupational and environmental health        
• International journal of environmental analytical chemistry
• International journal of environmental health research
• International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health
• Isotopes in environmental and health studies
• Japanese journal of environmental entomology and zoology
• Journal of agricultural, biological, and environmental       
• Journal of applied science & environmental management
• Journal of computer-aided environmental design and education
• Journal of environmental education
• Journal of environmental health
• Journal of environmental quality      
• Journal of environmental science and health. Part A, Toxic/hazardous substances & environmental engineering
• Journal of environmental science and health. Part B, Pesticides, food contaminants, and agricultural wastes
• Journal of environmental science and health. Part C, Environmental carcinogenesis & ecotoxicology reviews      
• Journal of exposure analysis and environmental epidemiology       
• Journal of nutritional and environmental medicine
• Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene
• Journal of occupational and environmental medicine
• Journal of rural and remote environmental health
• Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part A
• Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part B
• Journal of transdisciplinary environmental studies
• Mutation research. Genetic toxicology and environmental mutagenesis      
• Occupational and environmental medicine ( London, England)       
• Radiation and environmental biophysics

LIBRARIES

• The EPA Headquarters Library provides access to EPA information for United States and international requests, and has a range of information services consisting of environmental and related subjects of interest. It includes a "Public Access to EPA Information" link.



• The Medical University of South Carolina Library's site links to associations, electronic books and journals, legislation and databases that cover toxicological and occupational health.



• The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Library lists starting points for environmental health researchers, including links to scientific and consumer resources, government organizations, and newspapers.



• The University of Washington Environmental Health Library provides access to the library's collection of documents and journals, and links to other environmental health sites.

ORGANIZATIONS (Note: Some organizations listed below have specific political agendas. They are included here because they offer valuable information on environmental health.)

• The Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN) is a national multi-disciplinary project whose mission is to promote a healthy environment and protect the fetus and the child from environmental health hazards. The CEHN Resource Guide features links to sources of information on children's health and environmental hazards, resources indexed by intended audience, keyword and organizational activity indexes, and offers a "Training Manual on Pediatric Environmental Health."



• The Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) is dedicated to the prevention and cleanup of toxic pollution. The EHC site offers fact sheets on termites and environmental illness resources, and links to lead poisoning, public health, regulatory agencies, children's health, asthma and pesticides web sites.



• The National Safety Council's Environmental Health Center provides fact sheets and education materials for journalists, educators, the general public, children and professionals. The NSC's mission is to "educate and influence society to adopt safety, health and environmental policies, practices and procedures that prevent and mitigate human suffering and economic losses arising from preventable causes."



• Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) are "working to create a world free of nuclear weapons, global environmental pollution, and gun violence." The PSR's Environment and Health Links site connects to international agencies, non-governmental and academic organizations, medical web sites, news services, searchable databases and list-serves.

RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

• The Center for Children's Health and the Environment (CCHE) is the nation's first academic research and policy center to examine the links between exposure to toxic pollutants and childhood illness. CCHE was established in 1998 within the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, with support from the Pew Charitable Trusts. CCHE's mission is to promote the health of children by conducting environmental health and policy research. This site provides fact sheets on a wide variety of children's environmental health issues, as well as information on conferences and workshops on environmental health.
  
  
• The Center for Health and the Global Environment was founded in 1996 at Harvard Medical School to expand environmental education at medical schools and to further investigate and promote awareness of the human health consequences of global environmental change
  

UMB LINKS

• The School of Nursing EnviRN program is dedicated to supporting nursing professionals who seek scientific information on environmental health and nursing. The ultimate goal is to prevent environmental disease by increasing the numbers of nursing professionals who can recognize environmental etiologies and risk factors of disease, promote health, and empower individuals, families and communities.



• Environmental Health and Safety provides regulatory guidance and technical assistance in the areas of radiation safety, occupational safety and health, hazardous waste management, biosafety, injured workers compensation administration, and insurance.