As an occupational health and safety researcher, I am a huge fan of the US Center for Disease Control (CDC). Their mission is "to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability." The CDC works towards healthy people in a healthy world by way of prevention. The best place to get the most out of the CDC is at their web-site: www.cdc.gov

The CDC has their foot in almost every health and safety related door. Their health and safety topics include information about:

DISEASES AND CONDITIONS

CDC has all common and most uncommon diseases and conditions listed alphabetically. Pick the disease you are interested in learning about and click on it. For an example, pick: Tuberculosis. You will find, factsheets, statistics, guidelines for prevention, educational and training materials, articles, surviellance reports and hundreds of pages of related information from the National Centre for HIV/AIDs, Viral Hepatitus, STD and TD Prevention; Division of Tuberculosis Elimination - an off-shoot of the CDC. Every disease and condition will have a comparable amount of information and useful links.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

This CDC site is meant to prepare the general population to respond in case of a public health emergency. Highlights include: Emergency Preparedness and You - a handy guide for stocking supply kits, creating emergency plans, and how to stay informed; as well as information about:
* Bioterrorism Emergencies (antrax, plague)
* Chemical Emergencies (chlorin, ricin, etc)
* Radiation Emergencies (dirty bombs, radiation syndrome)
* Mass Casualties (Burns, explosions, preparedness tools)
* Natural Disasters and Extreme Weather
* Recent outbreaks and incidents (salmonella, floods, school violence)

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

The CDC is very concerned about how your health and affected by the environment, more specifically the toxic substances in your environment. They have campaigns and programs about everything you can imagine including:
* Air pollution and respiratory problems
* Climate change
* Environmental public health tracking
* Rodent control
* Mold
This section also offers statistics about environment and toxins; fact sheets; and tools such as Environmental Health WebMaps.

LIFE STAGES AND POPLUATION

This section talks about specific health concerns for specific groups of people such as: children, pregnant women, the elderly, teens and

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