Environmental and Public Health Internet Resources
National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA)
http://www.epa.gov/ncea/
The NCEA web site of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) features ecological risk
assessment documents, scientific support for conducting risk assessments, and access to tools
used in understanding risk in the environmental arena. Risk assessments are currently available for
dioxin, lead, ozone, particulate matter, polychlorinated biphenyls, and environmental tobacco
smoke. Guidelines are available for carcinogen, reproductive toxicity, and ecological risk
assessments. The site also provides access to the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Web
Prototype. EPA is testing and working to improve this World Wide Web presentation of IRIS, a
database of human health effects that may result from exposure to various substances found in the
environment.
RiskWorld
http://www.riskworld.com/
RiskWorld is a World Wide Web (WWW) publication covering risk assessment and risk
management. It is published by Tec-Com Inc., a publishing company specializing in technical
communications primarily for energy or risk-focused organizations. RiskWorld contains news
articles, announcements, government reports, paper abstracts, WWW site profiles, risk software,
job information, and more.
EPA Superfund WWW Site
http://www.epa.gov/superfund
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revamped its Superfund (National
Priorities List hazardous waste site) World Wide Web site so that it is more user-friendly and
useful to EPA's various audiences. The "Welcome" file contains information on the site's new
organization, which includes a new "Superfund for Kids" section.
Crescent Community-based Research Listserv
The University of Massachusetts Extension, the Loka Institute, and the Community Research
Network have created the Crescent group mailing list to address the growing need for
community-based researchers worldwide to share experiences, research methods, and resource
management and fundraising information. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to
majordomo@reeusda.gov containing the message "subscribe crescent." Crescent grew out of an
initiative known as the Community Research Network (CRN). For more information about CRN,
go to http://amherst.edu/~loka/ or e-mail the Loka Institute at
loka@amherst.edu.
Environment97 Conference To Be Held on Internet Only
The Environment97 conference will be held entirely and exclusively on the Internet at
http://www.environment97.org, November 3-14, 1997. The conference will include
approximately 150 technical and general papers, discussion groups for each keynote paper,
downloadable images of environmental bad practices, life cycle assessment comparing an Internet
conference with a real conference, and a participant chat room. Papers cover global issues,
environmental philosophy, toolkits, and techniques. Registration at the site is necessary for full
access. The site contains frames, but a text-only and a non-frames version of the site will be
available for the conference.
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Commentary
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and partners held the "1997 Partnerships for Networked
Consumer Health Information Conference" in Washington, DC, April 14-16. The following is an editorial
concerning some of the conference's key issues.
Technology Is Redefining Roles in Public Health and Health Promotion
Many factors are influencing and changing how ATSDR and other health agencies,
organizations, and individuals will promote health in the future. One of the most influential factors is rapid
change in information delivery technologies.
Health professionals have good reason to be excited and concerned. The entire culture of
communications--and therefore health promotion--is changing. No matter whether you are an
early adopter or are coming along kicking and screaming into the Computer-based Information
Age, you need to be aware of how networked, computer-based consumer health information
systems are among the forces driving unprecedented changes in health care and health
professions.
Once these changes in information delivery take place on a broader scale, health professionals will
not be able to rely on the same systems, partners, or procedures for getting out health information
or promoting health. Health care is moving into the home and toward more interactive
communication, and multimedia computers and other new technologies are allowing this to
happen at a faster rate than before.
"I believe that networked information systems will transform the face of health care," said Molly
J. Coye, MD, MPH, vice president of strategic development, Health Desk Corporation, at the
1997 Partnerships for Networked Consumer
Health Information Conference in Washington, DC,
April 14-16. "They will help accelerate the transformation of health systems, assist in the creation
of new types of health systems, and assist in the creation of new types of health professionals.
Doing so will generate powerful new consumer and patient knowledge, expectations, and
capabilities."
These cultural changes will not be easy, nor will they go smoothly. It is essential that health
professionals do their best to make themselves aware of the coming changes and participate in the
debate whenever possible.
What these new systems are doing is bringing the ideal of health promotion--the process of
enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health--closer to reality. They are
tapping into a resource that has always been there--individuals' informal networks for health
information (friends, family, community--any source of day-to-day, personal interactions)--and
connecting them with the health care establishment.
The words key to this change are "computer-based," "networked," and "consumer," and they are
turning the traditional health care infrastructure and hierarchy upside down, said a number of
conference speakers. Traditionally, physicians and other health professionals have been the
providers of information and health care, and members of the public have been consumers of that
care or information. With the growth of networked, computer-based consumer health information
systems, the role of individuals in their own health care will increase, and the roles of health
professionals will shift more toward facilitators or partners, away from being "authorities" who
hold and dispense health knowledge, according to a number of conference speakers.
Furthermore, health professionals need to realize that noncentralized forms of communication
such as the Internet are allowing nontraditional and alternative voices for health information to be
heard on the same par as professional, traditional health information sources. Messages from these
two groups are competing more and more for attention and credibility.
With interactive communication, everyone will be a consumer and provider of health information.
This cultural change is already evident on the Internet where individuals participating in online
self-help groups have become teachers and providers of health information. Samantha Scolamiero,
who started a brain tumor discussion list (http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/
samajane/BRAINTMR.html) on the Internet after developing brain cancer, is one of those
teachers--not only of herself, other patients, and their families, but health care professionals as
well.
"The brain tumor list is creating an awareness among physicians as to the specific physical,
emotional, and spiritual needs of patients," Scolamiero said at the conference. "The patients are
even helping those doctors who are willing to learn."
Tom Ferguson, MD, senior associate, The Center for Clinical Computing, Harvard School of
Public Health, agrees.
"The conversations self-helpers conduct within these communities constitute a new and important
medium which may be more effective in providing the information and connections they need than
any other medium developed to date, including pamphlets, books, articles, multimedia CDs,
videotapes, databases, and most Web pages," Ferguson said at the conference. "Within these
groups, a great deal of technical medical information is exchanged. But there is a second level
too: practical skills and management techniques. There is a third layer as well: participation in
these online communities helps ease feelings of isolation and discouragement."
Self-helpers seeking health information online often view materials simply converted for loading
onto the Internet as "shovelware," Ferguson said. This reaction indicates that computer-based
information seekers expect and desire interactivity or information personalized to their situations.
The future is not only here in online self-help groups, it is already here in other technologies being
researched and developed in many laboratories. For example, conference participants spoke about
the development and testing of electronic "house call" systems for monitoring the health of
homebound patients, such as the elderly or disabled. These systems will lower the cost of care and
provide the patient with more access, participation, social contact, and accountability in their own
health care. It is not inconceivable that these systems would be extended to the larger population
via a future technology developed for sending a variety of information into the home. Various
public health messages could be individually tailored and delivered piggy-backed onto this system.
As if rapid changes in communications and the health care industry are not problematic enough,
forces other than the health community are spearheading the changes.
"We are in a power shift, and the health care system will be developed from the outside," said
Charles L. Jacobson, MD, executive vice president, Premier, at the conference. "What will the
future look like? It will be interesting to see."
Changes in health care and health communications are being driven by forces outside of the health
professions--economics (public and industry pressure for more cost-effective and better health
care services); the changing communications infrastructure, which is mostly in the hands of
private companies developing and owning the new technologies; and the market forces related to
the struggle for power over the future communications infrastructure by the telecommunications
and computer giants and their competitors (i.e., who will own and control the information
delivery infrastructure).
So what are health professionals supposed to do now about these coming changes? The Internet
and computer technology will not look the same as they do now, even several years down the
road. Our current televisions are about to become items of nostalgia. No one knows how
information will be delivered to the home, even within the next 5 years, and who will control the
infrastructure, but what health professionals need to keep an eye on is how the culture of
communication is changing with these technologies, prepare themselves for the changes, and be
ready to adapt their work to it.
The exciting thing about these changes is that health professionals can piggyback their messages
and services into the new delivery systems and learn from the billions of dollars worth of research
organizations are putting into developing and testing the new technologies. The Internet, for
instance, is its own best critic. No longer do consumers have to rely on sales materials to make a
decision about a product--the online community will tell you exactly what it thinks of a product
and how well it works. Beta versions of software are released free as an open invitation for users
to fix the bugs and influence the kind of product they want to work how they want it to. Never
before has business worked this way.
Members of the health care community are already evaluating these new technologies and their
applications to health fields. Health professionals should seek out this research information as a
base for making decisions about use of new technologies. They should also build evaluation into
their own plans for development of networked consumer-based information. Evaluation of
networked consumer-based information by the target audience(s) during development is essential
to success of the product and message(s).
In addition to cultural changes in communication, health professionals need to educate themselves
and be aware of the changes these technologies will bring about regarding legal (mainly privacy
and ownership) and equity (access) issues. Legal issues about who owns health information and
who has access to specific individual and public health information will increase. Until there is
universal access and use of new technologies, new technologies should never be the sole means of
information distribution. They should be looked upon as supplemental means of distribution
unless the entire intended audience has access and the skills and motivation to use the new
technology.
Reed Tuckson, MD, president, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, eloquently
summed up at the conference the resulting challenge for equity: "It seems to me our
challenge--the challenge of committed health professionals and of committed health-concerned
professionals who are learning to master the new tools of this field and who are influencing the
design of new systems--is to discover the opportunities and the pitfalls that lie ahead, such as that
the interconnected issues of health, social justice, and fairness are responsibly addressed."
Start now. You'll find many conference transcripts and audience discussions online at
http://odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/confrnce/partnr97/. This conference site is an example of how
health communications are being changed and benefitting from networked, computer-based
systems. Conference transcripts were placed on the Internet within weeks of the conference,
allowing health professionals all over the world to learn about and use this new information in
their own practices now, rather than waiting 2 to 3 years for print proceedings to be
published--too late to be useful because communications by then would have changed so much
that much of the information would be moot. In addition, participants could also receive
transcripts directly by e-mail within days. This herculean effort by the forward-looking conference
sponsors is to be applauded. The conference also showed how networked, computer-based
communication systems are helping meet the health promotion goal of helping people to help
themselves.
Georgia Moore
Managing Editor
[Table of Contents]
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ATSDR's Toxicological Profiles Available on CD-ROM
The Toxicological Profiles produced by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
(ATSDR) are now available on CD-ROM through CRC Press. The CD-ROM contains 110 of
ATSDR's Toxicological Profiles of hazardous substances, chemicals, and compounds. Each
profile includes an examination, summary, and interpretation of available toxicologic and
epidemiologic data on the hazardous substance. The CD-ROM costs $225 within the United
States, $270 outside; it is also available on a free, 30-day trial basis. Visit the CRC web site
(http://www.crcpress.com/PRODS/L1154.HTM) for full details or contact CRC Press Inc., Attn
Customer Service, 2000 Corporate Blvd., NW, Boca Raton, FL 33431; telephone (800) 272-7737; fax (800) 374-3401.
Call for Presentations
PREVENTION 98: Translating Science into Action, April 2-5, 1998, San Francisco,
California. Deadline for submission of presentation abstracts is September 8, 1997.
PREVENTION is the annual meeting of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and
the American College of Preventive Medicine. The focus of PREVENTION 98 is preventive
medicine expertise and exploring ways that this expertise can be translated into ethical, effective,
and evidence-based action and policy. For more information or an abstract form, contact
PREVENTION 98, 1660 L St., NW, #206, Washington, DC 20036, telephone (202) 466-2569;
fax (202) 466-2662, e-mail prevention@acpm.org; Internet
http://www.prevention-meeting.org/prevention.
Call for Abstracts
XVI World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education, June 21-26, 1998, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Deadline for submission of abstracts is October 31, 1997.
For a complete registration and abstract packet, contact XVI World Conference on Health
Promotion and Health Education, PO Box 365067, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-5067;
telephone (787) 274-0582; fax (787) 754-662; e-mail hir_arroyo@rcmaca.upr.clu.edu.
[Table of Contents]
COURSES
Harvard School of Public Health
Leadership and Management Skills Essential for Health and Safety Professionals;
November 17-19, 1997; Boston, Massachusetts. Content includes management theory and
application, managing people and motivation, listening skills, conflict resolution, time
management and utilization, regulatory affairs management, program management and negotiation
and ethics. Cost: $745. For more information, contact Harvard School of Public Health, Center
for Continuing Professional Education, 677 Huntington Ave, LL-23, Dept B, Boston, MA 02115-6096; telephone (617) 432-1171;
fax (617) 432-1969; e-mail contedu@sph.harvard.edu; Internet
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ccpe/ccpe.html.
Wright State University
12-Week Distance Learning Environmental Courses; Next Cycle Starting January 12, 1997.
Wright State University is offering courses in hydrologic and environmental science, policy, and
engineering through its Interactive Remote Instructional System (IRIS). IRIS was initially
developed in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource
Conservation Service and with the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Courses are self-taught through textbooks, lesson modules, workbooks, and in some cases,
software. Tutors are available and participants can also communicate with "classmates" via
electronic discussion groups on the Internet. A computer is necessary for some courses, but not
for others; course prices vary. Courses offered are ground water hydrology; ground water flow
modeling using MODFLOW; aquifer test analysis/well hydraulics; soil and ground water
contamination; soil remediation; and environmental geophysics. Register within 4 weeks before a
course starts to avoid a late processing fee. For more information and course descriptions, contact
Wright State University, Center for Ground Water Management, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy, 056
Library, Dayton, OH 45435-0001; telephone (937) 775-3648; fax (937) 775-3649; e-mail
IRIS@wright.edu; Internet http://geology.wright.edu/iris.html.
Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety
Safety and Health Training: Practical Strategies; October 14, 1997; St. Paul, Minnesota.
This course provides tools for making workplace safety and health training more effective. It
includes an overview of adult learning and alternatives to straight lecture. Cost: $195. For more
information, contact the center at 640 Jackson St, St. Paul, MN 55101; telephone (612) 221-3992;
Internet http://www.healthpartners.com/mcohs/mcohs.html.
[Table of Contents]
CALENDAR
October
October 23-25, 1997. "Minimizing Toxic Chemicals Risk Through Dialogue, Commitment
and Concerted Action: Collective Responsibility of Governments, Industry and Public" (a
workshop of the Chemical Institute of Canada); Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Contact: BK
Afghan, PhD, Environment Canada, NWRI, PO Box 5050, Burlington, Ontario, L7R 4A6;
telephone (905) 336-4661; fax (905) 336-4972; e-mail aff.afghan@cciw.ca.
October 26-29, 1997. Fifteenth International Neurotoxicology Conference: "Manganese:
Are There Effects from Long-Term, Low-Level Exposures?"; Little Rock, Arkansas.
Abstract deadline: September 15, 1997. Contact: Joan Cranmer, Dept. of Pediatrics, University
of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital, 1120 Marshall, Room 304,
Little Rock, AR 72202; telephone (501) 320-2986; fax (501) 320-4978; e-mail
cranmerjoanm@exchange.uams.edu.
October 28-30, 1997. GIS/LIS 1997 Annual Conference and Exposition (including GIS
and Health Presentations); Cincinnati, Ohio. Contact: Denise Calvert, American Congress on
Surveying and Mapping, 5410 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 100, Bethesda, MD 20814-21122;
telephone (301) 493-0200; fax (301) 493-8245; e-mail deniseacsm@mindspring.com.
November
November 9-13, 1997. American Public Health Association (APHA) 125th Annual
Meeting: "Communicating Public Health;" Indianapolis, Indiana. Contact: APHA, 1015
15th St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-2605; telephone (202) 789-5602; fax (202) 789-5661; e-mail
comments@ahpa.org; Internet http://www.apha.org/convention/index.htm.
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