Tox Town (Grades 7–Adult)
http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov (English)
http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/espanol/index.php (Espanol)
Do you know what environmental health risks exist in your school or community?
Tox Town introduces students, educators, and the general public to toxic chemicals and environmental health risks encountered in everyday life, in everyday places.

ToxMystery (Grades 2–6)
http://toxmystery.nlm.nih.gov (English and Spanish link)
ToxMystery is purrfect for 7–11 year olds (and fun for all ages) to learn about possible chemical hazards around the home.

See a 2-page (front and back) color flyer on Tox Town and ToxMystery. The flyer is English on one side, Spanish on the other http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/resources/ToxMysteryEnglishSpanish.pdf

CDC has developed an Environmental Health Shelter Assessment Tool to assist environmental health practitioners in conducting a rapid assessment of shelter conditions during emergencies and disasters. The tool is an assessment form that covers 14 general areas of environmental health, ranging from basic food safety and water quality to pet (companion animal) wellness, and allows for the documentation of immediate needs in shelters. It can be easily modified to meet local needs. http://www.bt.cdc.gov/shelterassessment/ [posted on the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) email discussion group http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov/ListservRulesRegulations ]

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today 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), the world’s largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health. 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. For more information on the ERG2008, or to download the ERG and WISER software application, visit http://hazmat.dot.gov/pubs/erg/gydebook.htm , or call (202) 366-4900. Print copies of the ERG are also available commercially through the U.S. Government Printing Office Bookstore and other commercial vendors. For information on NLM’s WISER software, visit http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov. [Read the complete press release at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/hazmat_guide08.html ]

Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OECA-OEJ-08-01
Closing Date for Applications: Jun 30, 2008
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) established the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program (EJSG) in fiscal year (FY) 1994. The purpose of this grant program is to support and empower communities that are working on local solutions to local environmental and/or public health issues. The EJSG Program is designed to assist recipients in building collaborative partnerships that will help them understand and address the environmental and/or public health issues in their communities. Successful collaborative partnerships with other stakeholders involve well-designed strategic plans to build, maintain and sustain the partnerships, and to work towards addressing the local environmental and/or public health issues. Details at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/ej-smgrants.html [posted on CPBR listserv]

http://tinyurl.com/2m9qw4

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, April 1, 2008; 12:00 AM

TUESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) — A new analysis of the American clinical trial process suggests that the system for testing new drugs has routinely excluded or under-represented women, older people, minorities, disabled individuals and rural populations for decades.

“We’ve got a big problem,” said Daniel S. Goldberg, chief policy adviser for the report. “And it’s extremely urgent that we fix it.”

For more on clinical trials see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/clinicaltrials.html

For more on Health Disparities see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthdisparities.html

WISER 4.0 is now available! You may download it from the WISER web site http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/, or access the on-line version http://webwiser.nlm.nih.gov/getHomeData.do. This new version introduces a biological substance list to augment the existing chemical and radioisotope lists. Highlights of this version include:

• Substance data for the six “Category A” biological agents (see the list http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/substances.html)
• WMD Response Guidebook pages are included into the substance data where appropriate
• A new tool for general browsing of the guide pages of the WMD Response Guidebook (except for Palm OS)
• A new Radiation Unit Conversion tool
• WISER can now automatically check for updates
• Incorporation of the latest NLM Hazardous Substance Data Bank updates
• And many more miscellaneous application and data enhancements

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides support for state and local governments, non-profit libraries, archives and museums to implement projects that will reduce or eliminate losses from future disasters. The goal of the program is to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the immediate recovery from a disaster. Institutions that have suffered a major disaster can apply for funding to pay for long-term solutions to potential problems, such as the purchase of pumps, retrofitting structures and facilities to minimize damages from high winds, earthquake, flood, wildfire, or other natural hazards, or the elevation of flood prone structures. For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/government/grant/hmgp/

The National Library of Medicine has released the NLM Drug Information Portal http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov . This resource provides the public, healthcare professionals, and researchers with a gateway to current and accurate drug information from the National Library of Medicine and to other key government agencies.

The Drug Information Portal offers a varied selection of resources and focused topics in medicine and drug-related information, with links to individual resources with drug information and summaries tailored to various audiences. General drug categories from MeSH are also included in the Drug Portal records.

More than 15,000 drugs are available for searching. The search interface requires only a drug name; a spellchecker is provided. Information buttons and balloon pop-ups guide the user by providing helpful hints or a description of the resource and links to the source website.

Search results include links to related drug information in MedlinePlus(r), AIDSinfo(r), Medline/PubMed(r), LactMed, HSDB(r), Dietary Supplements Labels Database, TOXLINE(r), DailyMed(r), ClinicalTrials.gov, PubChem, NIAID Anti-HIV/OI Database, ChemIDplus(r), Drugs@FDA, DEA, and USA.gov .

The 10th Annual William T. Small, Jr. Keynote Lecture: “The Science and Epidemiology of Racism and Health in the United States: an Ecosocial Perspective“, by Nancy Krieger, Ph.D., Harvard School of Public Health
Broadcast Friday, February 29, 2008 at 2:00pm-3:30pm EST.
The Lecture is the highlight of the 29th Annual UNC School of Public Health Minority Health Conference on “The Impact of Poverty, Culture, and Environment on Minority Health”, presented by the School’s Minority Student Caucus, from 8:30am-4:30pm on February 29. The broadcast of the Keynote Lecture will include a live call-in question-and-answer session with Dr. Krieger, moderated by Adaora Adimora, MD, MPH.

For information about the Conference and the broadcast please visit http://www.minority.unc.edu/sph/minconf/2008/ (Note that only the Keynote Lecture will be broadcast.)

The Heritage Emergency National Task Force http://www.heritagepreservation.org/programs/TASKFER.htm is a partnership of 41 national service organizations and federal agencies created to protect cultural heritage from the damaging effects of natural disasters and other emergencies. With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Heritage Preservation has developed the Field Guide to Emergency Response. The compact handbook is designed for immediate use when disaster strikes. Simple, clear instructions help staff organize essential disaster response functions and tackle common threats to collections. The Guide provides handy checklists and features an instructional DVD on salvage techniques that can be viewed on-site with a laptop computer.You can see the guide and other resources for cultural institutions at http://www.heritagepreservation.org/PROGRAMS/TFHurricaneRes.HTM There are also resources for the general public to learn how to save their family treasures. http://www.heritagepreservation.org/PROGRAMS/TFHurricanePub.htm