National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) – A US Government Environmental Health Resource

In the spirit of back to school, here is a great source for homework help in environmental health studies.

From their About page

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is one of 27 research institutes and centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ,  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)  . The mission of the NIEHS is to discover how the environment affects people in order to promote healthier lives.

The NIEHS traces its roots to 1966, when the U.S. Surgeon General announced the establishment of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences within the NIH. In 1969, the division was elevated to full NIH institute status. Since then, the NIEHS has evolved to its present status as a world leader in environmental health sciences, with an impressive record of important scientific accomplishments and a proud history of institutional achievements and growth.

Today the NIEHS is expanding and accelerating its contributions to scientific knowledge of human health and the environment, and to the health and well-being of people everywhere  (229KB)

Some Web sites/pages of interest

• Brochures and fact sheets – for general information or background information for a presentation
  Topics include substances (as formaldehyde) , manufactured products (as cell phones),medical conditions (as asthma) and general health (as children’s health).
• Environmental Health topics include conditions/diseases, environmental agents (as radon), exposure routes (as airways) and population research (as occupational health).
• Environmental Health Science Education website provides educators, students and scientists with easy access to reliable tools, resources and classroom materials.

• Kids’ Pages provide fun and engaging activities, songs, stories, jokes, and other resources designed to introduce children to the concept of how they interact with their environment and how the environment may affect their health.

Related Links

• Bioethics
• EHP Science Education
• Toxnet –  Databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health, and toxic releases.
  • LactMed -A peer-reviewed and fully referenced database of drugs to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed. Among the data included are maternal and infant levels of drugs, possible effects on breastfed infants and on lactation, and alternate drugs to consider.
  • Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) – Comprehensive, peer-reviewed toxicology data for about 5,000 chemicals.
  • TOXMAP:® Environmental Health e-Maps -Geographic representation of estimated US releases of certain toxic chemicals reported annually to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA Toxics Release Inventory/TRI)
  • Household Products -links over 12,000 consumer brands to health effects from Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) provided by manufacturers and allows scientists and consumers to research products based on chemical ingredients
• ToxTown -uses color, graphics, sounds and animation to add interest to learning about connections between chemicals, the environment, and the public’s health. Tox Town’s target audience is students above elementary-school level, educators, and the general public.
• Environmental Health Disparities & Environmental Justice Meeting (July 29-31,2013) -focused on identifying priorities for action to address environmental health disparities (EHD) and environmental justice (EJ). This meeting brought together researchers, community residents, healthcare professionals, and federal partners committed to addressing EHD and EJ, in particular the grantees funded by NIEHS, EPA, NIMHD, CDC, OMH, and IHS. For the purposes of this meeting, EHD is defined as the unique contribution of the environment to health disparities.
  Includes links to meeting materials and additional resources

Related articles

• 3-D images show flame retardants can mimic estrogens in NIH study (eurekalert.org)
• Alternative Testing Strategies Needed to Cope With New Wave of Emerging Nanomaterials (azonano.com)
• Study: No link between mercury exposure and autism-like behaviors (eurekalert.org)
• Nanotechnology safety: New tests for determining health and environmental effects (nanowerk.com)