THE USE OF THE INTERNET FOR CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
41
THE USE OF THE INTERNET FOR CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Jerome A. Paulson, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Public Health Co-Director, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health & the Environment George Washington University June, 2007
description
THE USE OF THE INTERNET FOR CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. Jerome A. Paulson, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Public Health Co-Director, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health & the Environment George Washington University. June, 2007. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of THE USE OF THE INTERNET FOR CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
THE USE OF THE INTERNET FOR CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Jerome A. Paulson, MDAssociate Professor of Pediatrics & Public HealthCo-Director, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health & the EnvironmentGeorge Washington University
June, 2007
THE MID-ATLANTIC CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S HEALTH & THE ENVIRONMENT (MACCHE)
A PEDIATRIC ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SPECIALTY UNIT (PEHSU)
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this session participants will be able to: Describe uses of the Internet Evaluate WWW documents using criteria
discussed in the session Understand some of the limitations of the WWW Use a portal, a search engine and other types of
search systems to maximize effective Web searching
THE WORLD WIDE WEB – THE INTERNET
The World Wide Web = The Internet
Essentially the same things
THE WORLD WIDE WEB
A doorway to the world
A rapid means of locating and retrieving information
A rapid means of communication
TYPES of WEB SEARCH TOOLS General search engines – type in a word or
phrase and retrieve information based on algorithm AltaVista [www.altavista.com], Google Be cognizant of paid advertising
Multiple search engines – retrieve information from multiple search engines simultaneously Metacrawler, Dogpile [www.dogpile.com]
Directories – select from categories LookSmart [www.looksmart.com]
TYPES of WEB SEARCH TOOLS
Portals – combination search engine, subject directory, e-mail, chat, etc. Yahoo [http://www.yahoo.com/]
Subject-specific search directories MedWeb http://www.medweb.emory.edu/MedWeb/
Site-specific search tools – search box in corner
Databases MEDLINE, TOXLINE
TYPES of WEB SEARCH TOOLS On-line encyclopedias – Be very cautious
Some No oversight on content Anyone can change content
Political reasons Advocacy reasons
For example – Wikipedia and similar Not appropriate tool for professional use
Others Have oversight, editors, peer-review, etc For example – Encyclopedia of the Earth
Evaluating Environmental Health Information & Avoiding Misinformation
EVALUATING RESOURCES
Rationale Anyone can publish anything on the Web Unlike traditional print resources, web resources
rarely have editors or fact-checkers Currently, no web standards exist to ensure
accuracy
EVALUATING RESOURCES
Authority Who is the author? What is the author’s affiliation? Can you contact the author?
Objectivity Is the purpose of the site clearly stated? Is sponsorship acknowledged? Is the information impartially presented?
EVALUATING RESOURCES
Accuracy Is it reliable and free from error? Is the source of information clearly stated?
Coverage Is it complete for the topic and audience?
Currency When was the information produced? Has it been updated recently?
EVALUATING RESOURCES
Example http://www.health-e-kids.org/ - About Us http://www.earthportal.org/ - About the Earth
Portal
EVALUATING RESOURCES
Using domain names .com - a commercial site .net - a commercial site .gov - a US government site .org - a non-profit site .edu - an academic site .mil - a US military site
EVALUATING RESOURCES
Using domain names – some new ones .biz - a commercial site .info – any type of site .int – international organization .aero – air transport industry site .coop - a co-op business site .museum – a museum site .name - a personals site .pro – a professional; e.g., MD, lawyer, etc
EVALUATING RESOURCES
Criteria for Assessing the Quality of Health Information on the Internet http://hitiweb.mitretek.org/docs/policy.html The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It's a
Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html
CONCERNS
Uncensored content Hoaxes, frauds, and “urban legends”
http://www.snopes.com/ http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
Evaluating Search Engines
Search Engine Showdown: The Users Guide to Web Searching http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/
Google www.google.com www.google.com/unclesam
[http://www.google.com/ig/usgov] Mercury
Site-Specific Search Tools
NIH – www.nih.gov Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) -www.cdc.gov Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) –
www.epa.gov ATSDR - www.atsdr.cdc.gov WHO – www.who.int/
Toxicology and Environmental Health Information http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/environmentalhe
althinformation.html TOXNET TOXMAP HAZ-MAP TOX TOWN Household Products Database
TOXNET http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ Hazardous Substances Database (HSDB) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) GENE-TOX TOXLINE Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Others
TOXNET http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ Factual Databases - HSDB, IRIS, CCRIS,
GENE-TOX Bibliographic Databases - TOXLINE,
DART/ETIC, EMIC Toxic Chemical Releases - TRI Chemical Identification/Nomenclature -
ChemIDplus
Factual DatabaseHazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) Human Health Effects Emergency Medical
Treatment Animal Toxicity Studies Metabolism /Pharmacokinetics Pharmacology Environmental
Fate/Exposure Environmental Standards &
Regulations
Chemical/Physical Properties
Chemical Safety & Handling Occupational Exposure
Standards Manufacturing and Use Laboratory Methods Special References Synonyms and Identifiers
4500 Chemicals (1 record/chemical)
Factual DatabaseIntegrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
Noncarcinogenic Assessment - Oral (RfD) Noncarcinogenic Assessment - Inhalation
(RfC) Carcinogenic Assessment - Oral Carcinogenic Assessment - Inhalation
535 Chemical Records
Factual Database
Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System (CCRIS) 8000 Chemical Records
Carcinogenicity Studies Tumor Inhibition Studies Tumor Promotion
Studies Mutagenicity Studies
GENE-TOX 3200 Chemical Records
Mutagenicity Studies
Bibliographic Databases
TOXLINE - TOXicology Literature onLINE DART/ETIC - Developmental and
Reproductive Toxicology/Environmental Teratology Information Center
Chemical Information ChemIDplus Information on 350,000 chemicals Chemical structures for over 50,000
chemicals Search by chemical name, CAS RN,
structure Superlist - “list of lists” of hazardous
chemicals, e.g., California Prop 65, DOT, IARC
Other Specific Web Sites
Most National Governments Have Environmental Information on the Web Poland – Ministry of the Environment
http://www.mos.gov.pl./index_main.shtml Canada – Health Canada – Environment &
Workplace Health http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/index_e.html
Japan – Ministry of the Environmenthttp://www.env.go.jp/en/
Environmental Health Perspectives Access to full-text at no cost http://www.ehponline.org/
Children’s Health Resources http://www.ehponline.org/children/resources.html
Children’s Health links http://www.ehponline.org/children/links.html
World Health Organization
WHO – Environmental Health Information http://www.who.int/topics/environmental_health/en/ Children’s Environmental Health http://www.who.int/ceh/en/ Healthy Environments for Children Alliance (HECA)
http://www.who.int/heca/en/ Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe
http://www.euro.who.int/childhealthenv/policy/20020724_2 Global Initiative on Children's Environmental Health
Indicators http://www.who.int/ceh/indicators/en/
European Union
European Union Home Page – Europa http://europa.eu/ Information resources
http://europa.eu/geninfo/info/index_en.htm Environmental issues
http://europa.eu/pol/env/index_en.htm Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and
Restriction of Chemicals http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_
intro.htm
The Health and Environment Alliance European Public Health Alliance
Environmental Network - HEAL http://www.env-health.org/
International Research and Information Network on Children's Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES) http://inchesnetwork.net/
US EPA – Child Specific Information Office of Children’s Health Protection -
www.epa.gov/children Toxicity and Exposure Assessment for
Children's Health (TEACH) Contains over 1,400 references covering
information on environmental contaminants that potentially impact children's health
www.epa.gov/teach/
US CDC – Child Specific Information National Center for Environmental
Health/Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry [NCEH/ATSDR] National Report on Human Exposure to
Environmental Chemicals - http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/
Toxicological profiles http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxpro2.html
Environmental Health News
www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org World-wide, English language press
Environmental health issues Summaries of scientific papers Other information
Earth Portal - http://www.earthportal.org/ All aspects of the earth “especially in regards to how
these systems support life and underpin human existence.”
EarthNews http://www.earthportal.org/news/ News articles
Encyclopedia of the Earth http://www.eoearth.org/ Searchable set of reference articles written for EOE
Earth Forum http://www.earthportal.org/forum/ Discussion
Information in Languages Other than English Many US government web sites have
Spanish language materials NIH – http://salud.nih.gov/ CDC – www.cdc.gov/spanish/default.htm EPA - http://www.epa.gov/espanol/
WHO – www.who.int EU – http://europa.eu
Other Specific Web Sites
Pesticide Information The Extension Toxicology Network –
http://extoxnet.orst.edu/ School Information
Center for Health, Environment and Justice - http://www.chej.org/
Healthy Schools Network - http://www.healthyschools.org/
