This message is being cross-posted to lists whose subscribers
might be interested in public access to U.S. government
information on the health effects of chemicals in the
environment. Instructions for retrieving the documents
electronically are included.
ANNOUNCEMENT
"CHEMICALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: PUBLIC ACCESS INFORMATION"
Summer 1995
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains
a wide range of environmental information. Some of this
information tells us what chemicals and pollutants are released
by industrial plants. Other information tells us about the
health and environmental effects of chemicals. Still other
information tells us what chemicals people may be exposed to.
EPA believes that it is in everyone's interest to make this
information available to the public. "Public" here includes
industry, state governments, community groups, environmental
groups, and, of course, public citizens. Access to information
is the best way to ensure everyone has the opportunity to
evaluate and reduce environmental and health risks.
To make this information accessible, the Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) within EPA provides a variety of
information services and products. These include call-in
hotlines, publications,videos, diskettes with data, CD-ROMs, and
access to on-line databases.
This publication is one way for you to find out about EPA's
information products related to chemicals. The first edition of
"Chemicals in the Environment: Public Access Information"
provides information on a number of major OPPT products and
services that reflect the scope of our programs. We hope to
reach a wide audience to let you know what information products
are available, what they can do for you, and how to get them.
The articles included in the first issue cover such topics as
EPA's New Chemicals Program (which describes how EPA evaluates
newly discovered chemicals for possible health effects);
information sources for lead and asbestos; the Toxics Release
Inventory (TRI); the OPPT Chemical Fact Sheets; the Pollution
Prevention Information Clearinghouse; and industry health and
safety studies which are submitted to EPA under the Toxic
Substances Control Act.
The files are accessible on the EPA Gopher Server on the Internet
(address: gopher.epa.gov) under:
EPA Offices and Regions/Office of Prevention, Pesticides and
Toxic Substances/Toxic Substances/Chemicals in the
Environment: Public Access Information.
Persons without Gopher access can retrieve the issue and
its contents through anonymous ftp from EPA's FTP server
(ftp.epa.gov). Log on the ftp server as anonymous.
"Chemicals in the Environment: Public Access Information"
can be found under the directory pub/gopher/cie. The entire
issue (in WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows format) is filed as
pub/gopher/cie/summer95/issue01j.wpd. [IMPORTANT: If retrieving
the entire file, please note that it is in BINARY format and is
800+ kbytes in size.] ASCII versions of the articles are located
under pub/gopher/cie/summer95/articles. Use the mget command to
retrieve all of the articles.
The files are also accessible through the Right-to-Know
Network (RTK-NET). RTK NET can be accessed either by direct
dial-up at (202) 234-8570 (8-N-1) or via the Internet (telnet
to rtk.net--login as "public"--or use a Web browser to access
it at http://rtk.net). [NOTE: You must sign up for an account,
which is free, before accessing some of RTK NET's databases.]
"Chemicals in the Environment: Public Access Information" is
presently located under:
Documents/Chemicals in the Environment: Public Access
Information
For more information on RTK NET, call OMB Watch at (202) 234-
8494.
Paper copies of "Chemicals in the Environment" are available from
the following OPPT information services:
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Phone- (202) 554-1404
Assistance Information Service Hotline TDD- (202) 554-0551
Fax- (202) 554-5603
The Emergency Planning and Community Phone- (800) 535-0202
Right to Know Act (EPCRA) and or
Superfund Hotline Local (703) 412-9877
We would like to know if this publication is helpful to you.
Please direct your comments or questions to the editor,
Randall Brinkhuis, at U.S. EPA, Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics, Information Management Division
(7407), 401 M Street SW, Washington DC 20460, Internet
address: brinkhuis.randall at epamail.epa.gov
