Selected References and Practical Resources

Environment Canada's Green Lane has web pages devoted to informing the public about the effects of smog and ways to prevent and reduce exposure:
Smog: What you can do
Air Care - A Parent's Guide to Air Quality and Health

OMA Smog Advisory: health messages for physicians and patients. By Dr. Alan Abelsohn and colleagues.

The Healthy Schools Project is a Canadian Web site focused on alerting people to the problems and remedial actions regarding indoor air and health effects in children. It includes instructions on "best practices" for creating healthier indoor environments in schools.

Pollution Probe has a number of recent publications concerning the policy level approaches to improving indoor air quality.

Of particular use to physicians is the online document, Indoor Air Pollution: An Introduction for Health Professionals. Co-sponsored by: The American Lung Association (ALA), The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the American Medical Association (AMA). U.S. Government Printing Office Publication No. 1994-523-217/81322 1994.

This booklet provides an overview of the challenge for the health professional of understanding the effects of indoor air pollution on the health of their patients. It focuses on acute conditions, with patterns that point to particular agents and suggestions for appropriate remedial action.

The Greater Boston PSR group's online publication entitled, NO ROOM TO BREATHE: Air Pollution and Primary Care Medicine (By Jefferson H Dickey, MD) is a review piece intended for the clinician.

The Environmental Health Center of the National Safety Council has a fact sheet library concerning health and the environment that is particularly focused on factors relevant to air quality. Fact sheets also have important links to relevant Web sites. The NSC Indoor Air Program Web site links to other fact sheets and educational materials (including some aimed specifically at children).

Environmental Tobacco Smoke

The US EPA provides a number of important Internet resources devoted to examining indoor air quality and a myriad of publications and reference material available online. See in particular their web pages on Indoor Air Quality by the Office of Air and Radiation and on Secondhand Smoke.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides the Tobacco Information and Prevention Source (TIPS) Web site maintained by the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. The site presents information covering tobacco-related issues and statistics.

The World Health Organization and Tobacco-Free Initiative hosted an "International Consultation on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and Child Health" in January, 1999. This meeting brought together experts from developed and developing countries to examine the effects of ETS on child health and to recommend interventions to reduce these harmful effects and eliminate children's exposure. The Web site provides Word and PDF versions of the presentations by participant researchers.