General

5/07/2008
NLM Aids Federal Effort to Distribute Revised Hazmat Guidebooks to Emergency First Responders

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that it is granting emergency responders electronic access to the Emergency Response Guidebook 2008 (ERG2008), through laptops and personal digital assistants (PDAs), under a joint effort between DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the National Library of Medicine (NLM. This new hazmat safety guide for police, fire and other emergency response organizations is designed to aid emergency response personnel who may be the first to arrive at the scene of a transportation incident involving hazardous materials. The NLM-developed software application and NLM's Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders (WISER) software are stand-alone applications for Pocket PCs, PDAs, and Windows-based laptop computers. This joint effort keeps pace with the advance of portable personal technology and fulfills the request of a number of emergency responders for an electronic-based ERG. DOT is also distributing nearly 1.75 million print copies of the ERG.

4/03/2008
Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC) Launched

The DIMRC web site provides access to quality disaster health information at all stages of preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery. Initially, the site will focus on NLM and NLM-supported resources and activities. It will then expand to include other sources of authoritative disaster health information.

DIMRC collects, organizes, and disseminates health information for natural, accidental, or deliberate disasters.  The Center is committed to providing this information as part of the federal effort to help prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the adverse health effects of disasters. It will work with federal, state, and local government, private organizations, and local communities.

Environmental Health & Toxicology

7/14/2008
Illustrated glossary and a Spanish home page for ToxMystery

ToxMystery, the National Library of Medicine's interactive learning site for kids has added a Spanish home page. This URL lets users start the game in Spanish without clicking on the language tab from the English site. Gamers can still move between Spanish and English as Toxie the Cat helps them explore the site's "house of hazards." An illustrated glossary of the words used in ToxMystery was also added to the Teacher's Resource page. The glossary is available in Spanish from the "Para maestros" section.

6/11/2008
New Enviro-Health Link page on Disaster Recovery and Environmental Health

This new web bibliography brings together resources on recovering from a disaster whether natural or manmade. Among the resources are guides for state and local officials, links to state emergency management offices, information for emergency responders, guidelines for workers involved in environmental cleanup and handling hazardous chemicals.

4/17/08
New Enviro-Health Link page on Mercury and Human Health

Mercury's effects on health are a common concern. This new web bibliography, Mercury and Human Health,includes links to sites about mercury reduction, occupational exposure, compact fluorescent light bulbs, mercury in health care, and regulations and state legislation.

4/17/08
TRI 2006 Released

The new TRI 2006 release contains 87,870 records. TRI87-2006 now has 1,738,086 records. There were two changes to reporting requirements for the 2006 data. Facilities were required to submit appropriate North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes rather than the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes previously used. To do trends analysis, EPA assigned NAICS codes to prior years' data, so now both SIC codes and NAICS codes are searchable on TOXNET. EPA also expanded Form A eligibility to include PBT chemicals in 2006.

4/17/08
TOXMAP: Now Includes TRI 2006, Updated Health Data

TOXMAP now includes the 2006 Toxics Release Inventory data (TRI).

Chemical Information

 

HIV/AIDS Information

 

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