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California Tracking              No. 4  Winter 2003

The Newsletter of the California Environmental Health Tracking Program

IN THIS ISSUE:

Welcome to the resource issue of California Tracking.  In this issue, we offer a compilation of resources related to environmental health.

This compendium is not meant to be exhaustive - we are simply attempting to offer resources which we hope may be useful to specific audiences.

In a future issue, we will focus on tools for public health actions such as advocacy, policy development, program planning, and risk communication.

We are also working on a searchable, online version of resources that will be more systematic and comprehensive.  We are asking readers to let us know which resources in this issue are particularly helpful and which resources we have overlooked.  Please send us your feedback through our feedback form or email to trackin3@dhs.ca.gov


Information for Action  ::  Data Sources
 
Read all about it  ::  Key Publications
 
Many Faces, One Goal  ::  Agencies and Organizations
 
Announcement  ::  Environmental Public Health Tracking Conference


Information for Action  ::  Data Sources

The following sources of environmental health data are a combination of very specific data, multiple data, metasites, and portals.  The sites offer information in one or more formats such as raw data for analysis, analyzed data in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) format, and reports.  Some sites such as scorecard.org have incorporated multiple data and offer them in a user-friendly format.  The geographic specificity (resolution) of the data varies from specific point sources to counties to states.  In some cases, it may possible to request data not directly available on a site.

 

Environmental Hazards/Exposures Data

Aerometric Data Analysis and Management System - Cal/EPA, ARB

Air Quality Data - Cal/EPA, ARB

California Air Toxics Emission Factor (CATEF) II database - Cal/EPA, ARB

California Emission Inventory Development and Reporting System (CEIDARS) - Cal/EPA, ARB

California Integrated Waste Management Board databases 

California Pesticide Information Portal (Pesticide Use Data) - Cal/EPA, DPR

Envirofacts Data Warehouse - US EPA

EnviroMapper - US EPA

Environmental Atlas - US EPA

Environmental Impact Report/Statement (EIR/EIS) Database - Cal/EPA

Environmental Radiation Ambient Monitoring System - US EPA

GeoTracker (Groundwater Resources Information Database) - Cal/EPA, State Water Resources Control Board

HazDat Database - ATSDR

HazMat Incident data - US DOT

Highway Performance Monitoring System - Caltrans

HUD E-MAPS/Enterprise Geographic Information System - US Department of Housing and Urban Development

National Air Toxics Assessment - US EPA

National Emission Inventory database - US EPA

National Water Information System Web - USGS

National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse - USGS

PAN Pesticides Database - Pesticide Action Network of North America

Pesticide Data Program (PDP) - USDA, National Pesticide Residue Database Program

Pesticide Well Inventory Reports - Cal/EPA

Response and Surveillance System for Childhood Lead Exposure - CDHS, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch

Right-To-Know Network - OMB Watch

Scorecard.org - Environmental Defense

STORET - US EPA

Superfund Information Systems (CERCLIS, RODS, SPIL, etc.) - US EPA

Toxic Release Inventory - US EPA

Water Quality Monitoring Database - CDHS, Drinking Water Program

 

Health Data

California Birth Defects Monitoring Program - CDHS, Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control

Behavioral Risk Factor Survey - Public Health Institute, Survey Research Group

California Cancer Registry - CDHS, Cancer Surveillance Section

California Health Interview Survey - UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

California Women's Health Survey - Public Health Institute, Survey Research Group

Individual County Health Status Profiles - Center for Health Statistics, CDHS

Medi-Cal Statistics - CDHS, Medical Care Statistics Section

National Cancer Statistics - National Cancer Institute

National Center for Health Statistics - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Patient (Hospital) Discharge Database - OSHPD

Vital Statistics (birth & death), - DHS, OHIR, Vital Statistics Section

California Blood Lead Registry - CDHS, OHB

Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program - DPR, Worker Health and Safety Branch

 

Miscellaneous Data Sources

@Risk - Environmental Working Group

CDC WONDER - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Counting California

Environmental Health Legislation Database

Environmental Health Watch

Household Products Database - National Library of Medicine

Invisible Web

TOXNET


Read all about it  ::  Key Publications

These publications related to environmental health are offered as a starting point to better understanding health and environmental issues and the relationship between the two.  We excluded most journal articles due to copyright issues and space limitations.  A bibliography of those articles will be made available in the future.   Resources with a focus on public health actions (i.e. Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health by the National Association of County and City Health Officials) were also excluded from this list - they will be included in a future issue of the newsletter and our searchable database on our website.

 

A BILL to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a Nationwide Health Tracking Network, and for other purposes.  U.S. House Resolution 4061, 107th Congress, 2nd Session. 

A Guide to Biomonitoring of Industrial Chemicals.  Center for Children's Health and the Environment.

Air Trends - 2002 Trends Report: Air Quality Continues to Improve.  US EPA.

America's Children and the Environment.  US EPA.

America's Environmental Health Gap: Why the Country Needs a Nationwide Health Tracking Network.  The Pew Environmental Health Commission.

America's Environmental Health Gap: Why the Country Needs a Nationwide Health Tracking Network.  Companion Report.  The Pew Environmental Health Commission.

Asthma and the Role of Air Pollution: What the Primary Care Physician Should Know.  Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Atlas of United States Mortality.  National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Birth Defect Tracking and Prevention One Year Later: One Step Forward.  Two Steps Back?  Trust for America's Health.

BodyBurden: the Pollution in People.  Environmental Working Group.

California County Asthma Hospitalization Chart Book.  Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health Services.

California Environmental Health Indicators.  Environmental Health Investigations Branch.

California Senate Bill 189 (Escutia).  Environmental health tracking system:  chronic disease.

California Senate Bill 702 (Escutia).  Chronic disease:  environmental determinants.

California Senate Bill 702 (Escutia) Expert Working Group on Environmental Health Tracking Draft Report. 

Cancer and the Environment: What Health Care Providers Should Know.  Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Catching Your Breath: Strategies to Reduce Environmental Factors that Contribute to Asthma in Children.  Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the Environmental Council of the States.

Clear Skies Reports.  US EPA.

Confronting Toxic Contamination in Our Communities.  The Women's Foundation of California.

Consider the Source: Farm Runoff, Chlorination Byproducts, and Human Health.  Environmental Working Group.

Emerging Links: Addressing the Links between Parkinson's Disease and Environmental Exposures.  Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Enhancing the Comparability of the Air Emission Inventories in Canada, Mexico and the United States.  North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

Environment and Disease: Tracking the Health Connection.  Public Health News, National Conference of State Legislatures.

Environmental and Public Health:  Pulling the Pieces Together.  Environmental Health Perspectives.

Environmental Exposures and Racial Disparities.  Environmental Justice and Health Union.

Environmental Health Series - Environmental Public Health Tracking: Connecting Health and the Environment.  National Conference of State Legislatures.

Environmental Justice Recommendations Report to the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice.  California Environmental Protection Agency.

Environmental Protection Indicators for California.  Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency.

Environmental Public Health Indicators.  CDC National Center for Environmental Health.

Health Tracking & Disease Clusters: The Lack of Data on Chronic Disease Incidence and its Impact on Cluster Investigations.  US PIRG Educations Fund.

Healthy From the Start: Why America Needs a Better System to Tracking and Understand Birth Defects and the Environment.  Pew Environmental Health Commission.

Healthy People 2010 (Focus Area 8: Environmental Health) Objectives for Improving Health.

Improving Cancer Tracking Today Save Lives Tomorrow: Do States Make the Grade?  Trust for America's Health.

In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development.  Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Latest Findings on National Air Quality: 2002 Status and Trends.  US EPA

New Environmental Health: The Drive to Prevent Cancer, Health Disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other Chronic Disease.  National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Pesticide Use Reporting: Legal Framework, Data Processing and Utilization.  Full Reporting Systems in California and Oregon.  Pesticide Action Network Germany.

Pesticides and Human Health: A Resource for Health Care Professionals.  Physicians for Social Responsibility and Californian for Pesticide Reform.

Poisoned Schools:  Invisible Threats, Visible Actions.  Child Proofing Our Communities: Poisoned School Campaign.

Polluting Our Future: Chemical Pollution in the U.S. that Affects Child Development and Learning.  National Environmental Trust, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Learning Disabilities Association of America.

Precautionary Principle and the City and County of San Francisco: White Paper.  San Francisco Department of the Environment.

Public Perception of Environmental Health Risks:  California and National Surveys.  Trust for America's Health.

Return on Investment of Nationwide Health Tracking.  Public Health Foundation.

Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Selected Papers from the Quebec City Consensus Conference on Environmental Health Indicators.  Canadian Journal of Public Health.

Short of Breath: Our Lack of Response to the Growing Asthma Epidemic and the Need for Nationwide Tracking.  Trust for America's Health.

Statewide Survey: Special Survey on Californians and the Environment.  Public Policy Institute of California.

Toxic Release and Health: A Review of Pollution Data and Current Knowledge on the Health Effects of Toxic Chemicals.  US PIRG Education Fund.


Many Faces, One Goal  ::  Agencies and Organizations

Below are organizations involved in environmental health.  This is by no means a comprehensive list.  The following organizations recognize the connection between health and the environment and their initiatives/programs reflect that concept.  For very extensive resources on particular issues such as children's environmental health, we have listed metasites such as the Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN) and the Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA) for pesticide issues.

 

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Air Resources Board, California Environmental Protection Agency

Alameda County Public Health Department

American Cancer Society

American Lung Association

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

Breast Cancer Action

Breast Cancer Fund

California Biomonitoring Planning Project.  Environmental Health Laboratory Branch, California Department of Health Services

California Birth Defects Monitoring Program

California Cancer Registry

California Certified Unified Program Agencies

California Communities Against Toxics

California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health

California Conference of Local Health Officers

California Environmental Health Tracking Program

California Environmental Protection Agency

California Environmental Rights Alliance

California Safe Schools

Californians for Pesticide Reform

CDC-Funded Environmental Public Health Tracking Projects

Center for Children's Health and the Environment

Center for Environmental Health

Center for Environmental Public Health Tracking, University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health

Central Coast Environmental Health Project

Chemical Body Burden, Coming Clean Network

Children's Environmental Health Institute

Children's Environmental Health Network

Children's Health Environmental Coalition

Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund

Collaborative on Health and the Environment

Commonweal

Communities for a Better Environment

Community Action to Fight Asthma

Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists

Department of Pesticide Regulation, California Department of Health Services

EnviroHealthAction, Physicians for Social Responsibility

Environment California

Environmental Defense

Environmental Health Coalition

Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health Services

Environmental Health Strategy Center

Environmental Justice Coalition for Water

Environmental Management Branch,  Division of Drinking Water and Environmental Management, California Department of Health Services

Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Environmental Working Group

Governor's Office of Planning & Research

Health Effects Institute

Healthy Children Organizing Project, Consumer Action

Healthy People 2010, US Department of Health and Human Services

Latino Issues Forum

National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Children's Study

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health

Natural Resources Defense Council

Nevada Environmental Public Health Tracking System

Occupational Health Branch, California Department of Health Service

Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency

Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security

Pesticide Action Network of North America

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Regional Asthma Management & Prevention Initiative

Science and Environmental Health Network

Sierra Club