Finding Information on Environment and Health Presented by the JSI Center for Environmental Health Studies with support from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine – New England Region

Informed Communities Project based on resources from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) and Other Sites

Dorchester Environmental Health Coalition Partner in Developing the Informed Communities Model Dorchester Environmental Health Coalition a project of DOT- Well Health Services Partnership

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine supports use of health information

The National Library of Medicine offers valuable information on the environment and health

Useful NLM Environmental Health Resources for the Public Factors in the Environment Tox Town (Introduction to environmental health in a town or urban setting) Household Products Database (Hazards of personal products) HazMap (Occupational health: Health risks from specific jobs and tasks) Toxics Release Inventory (Community Toxic Chemical Releases) Health Concerns MedlinePlus (consumer health. Includes disease or symptom information such as lead poisoning, and information on topics such as air pollution) TOXNET System of Databases (including research on chemical hazards) Resources DIRLINE (directory of organizations) Special Topic Guides – arsenic, biological & chemical warfare agents, etc. Toxicology Tutor

Tox Town's use of color, graphics, sound and animation adds special appeal. These special effects require Macromedia Flash (instructions for downloading the program for free can be found in the "Intro" section), but a text-only version is also available at Tox Town has resources available in Spanish as well at

If you still have trouble installing Macromedia (like I did) Go to their support page to download the files.

Tox Town is available in Spanish You can search by neighborhood

You can search by location

Or you can search by chemical

This is an example of Dirline which lists health organizations by topic

This is an example of MedlinePlus. It covers many health topics for the general public.

Learn more about environmental health Or learn about health issues for children, seniors, women, men or population groups Use MedlinePlus to learn about a specific health condition, such as asthma.

Medline Plus covers many topics on environment and health

The Household Product database will let you learn about the safety of common products

Haz-Map shows the health and safety concerns of specific jobs

Highlight Term(s) First Search by job

Or Search by agent or disease to learn the jobs or tasks that may be a risk.

You can also, through the National Library of Medicine, search TRI and make community Maps with TOXMAP

Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Locate facilities in a community that store, release or transfer toxic chemicals. Find information about the facility (Facility Name, Address, Contact Person, Phone, etc.) Identify the toxic chemicals (Chemical Name, CAS number, Uses of the chemical, etc.) Find the amount of each toxic chemical released to the environment (and whether released in Air, Water, Land, or Underground Injection) Find the amount treated as waste at the facility or sent off-site for treatment Learn about the facility’s efforts to reduce and recycle toxic chemicals. Note: in Massachusetts we can learn how much of the chemical is used by the facility and for what specific use:

TRI Background Right-to-Know Movement Workplace: OSHA Hazard Communication Standard – 1983 Community: Superfund (CERCLA) Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup. (1980) Bhopal (1984) and smaller scale chemical disasters SARA (Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act) (1986) Title 3 = Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act Section 313 = Toxic Release Reporting Pollution Prevention Act of of 1990

Sample TRI search for a specific chemical

Mapping Dorchester with TOXMAP

Map facility locations and learn more about their handling of toxics

Sample report for Gillette Company

Gillette’s release of Chromium to the air in 2002

Click on links to learn facts about the chemicals

The ATSDR link is to chemical fact sheets that are written for the public. Type in the chemical name to search

Sample fact sheet on Acetone

The HSDB link is to more scientific chemical information and studies that are written for researchers.

Click to see other databases with acetone records

Search Toxline for scientific literature on toxic chemicals. In this case studies on brain cancer and pesticides.

Other Information on Chemicals for the Public Scorecard (from Environmental Defense) – Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – New Jersey Department of Health

Other Environmental Hazard Mapping Tools Scorecard (from Environmental Defense) – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Select: “Where I Live” Massachusetts Geographical Information System