To the List,
I just received this notice, and I think it could benefit many
listmembers.
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PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED UNTIL: CONTACT: BOB MEHNERT/
THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1997 KATHY GARDNER (301)
496-6308
VICE PRESIDENT GORE TO LAUNCH FREE ACCESS TO WORLD'S LARGEST SOURCE
OF PUBLISHED MEDICAL INFORMATION ON WORLD WIDE WEB
Consumers and Health Professionals Worldwide to Have Fingertip Access
to Cutting-Edge Research
(Bethesda, MD -- June 26, 1997) -- The National Library of Medicine,
a part of the National Institutes of Health, will today launch a new
service to provide all Americans free access to MEDLINE -- the world's
most extensive collection of published medical information -- over the
World Wide Web. Prior to this announcement, users have had to register
and pay to search MEDLINE and other NLM databases. This free service
will be demonstrated by Vice President Albert Gore at a press briefing
to be hosted by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) on Thursday, June 26, 1997
at 10:30 a.m. in Room 192 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, United
States Senate.
In announcing the new free service, Health and Human Services
Secretary Donna Shalala said, "American citizens now have at their
fingertips both the scientific information gathered by the National
Library of Medicine, as represented in MEDLINE, and the extensive
consumer
health information in healthfinderTM, the service for the public that
we announced in April. We are committed to using the new technology,
including the World Wide Web and the Internet, to provide health
information to the public."
"The National Library of Medicine's debut of free Web-based
searching could not be more timely," said NLM Director Donald A.B.
Lindberg, M.D. "The health care delivery landscape is changing.
Citizens
are increasingly turning to the Web as a source of information to
improve
their daily lives, including their health. So, it is vital that they,
and the health professionals who serve them, have access to the most
current and credible medical information."
"Medical breakthroughs are happening so rapidly that I believe
health care professionals and consumers alike should be able to tap into
the most recent medical information," added pioneering heart surgeon
Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., chair of NLM's Board of Regents. "Such
information is often the critical link in reaching the correct
diagnosis,
resulting in lives saved, unnecessary treatment avoided, and
hospitalization reduced. Even with all our modern advances in health
care, I still consider good information to be the best medicine." Dr.
DeBakey emphasized this same point this past spring in testimony before
a Capitol Hill appropriations subcommittee.
Harold Varmus, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of
Health, applauded free access and observed it would have the additional
benefit of improving the nation's scientific literacy. "The press
briefing will demonstrate how the public, including high school and
college science classes, will be able to search through MEDLINE and the
Human Gene Map, another one of NLM's Web-based databases, and learn
about
inherited diseases that are located on our chromosomes -- in terms that
the public can understand. No longer will the public be left in the
dark
as this fascinating and historic human genome research process unfolds."
"The medical library community is pleased that this vast treasure
trove of medical knowledge will be opened up to the general public,"
said
Rachael K. Anderson, President of the Medical Library Association.
"Patients and their families are regularly turning to health sciences
librarians to find reliable health information. Free MEDLINE means that
we can now provide consumers with better access to the quality
information
they need, and librarians can help them to tap into the full power of
this
authoritative source."
To demonstrate the value this new service will have for consumers
and health professionals, the press briefing will bring together a
sampling of Americans whose stories are compelling examples of how
access
to MEDLINE and other sources of medical information from the Library
positively touched their lives. Among those who will provide written
or oral statements are:
o A Pennsylvania book editor who went online to learn
about non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and to find a clinical trial for her
daughter, a University of Iowa student, who was diagnosed with the
disease;
o A Maryland pharmacist who had six miscarriages before
she consulted MEDLINE, found a treatment, and carried a baby
successfully
to term;
o A Connecticut librarian who searched MEDLINE for a
doctor who was concerned about hospitals performing mastectomies on an
out-patient basis for insurance purposes. Her search resulted in a
reversal of such insurance policies;
o A New York police officer who searched MEDLINE to
recover important information for three relatives with cancer -- his
wife,
father-in-law, and aunt. He now trains other officers in the use of
MEDLINE;
o A Virginia couple whose 6-month search of medical
literature resulted in treatment for their son's rare inherited disease
--
a search that became immortalized in the movie "Lorenzo's Oil";
o A District of Columbia director of an AIDS advocacy
group that uses AIDSLINE, an NLM database that is already free to the
public.
o Other individuals, from throughout the United States,
will be available for comment by contacting the NLM.
The web address for the National Library of Medicine is:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov. On June 26, this site will display free
MEDLINE.
Press will also be invited to view a demonstration of "PubMed" -- a new
free NLM online service that will allow the public to establish direct
web links between MEDLINE abstracts and the publishers of the full-text
articles. This new service is the result of a collaboration between the
NLM and major science publishers such as the New England Journal of
Medicine, Science, Journal of Biological Chemistry, and The Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
--
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD
Editor-in-Chief,
"Spotlight on Food--nutrition news for people 60-plus"
http://www.fortnet.org/~fivstar
and NUTRITION TOPICS copy-ready handouts
http://www.dietetics.com/class/fivstar/
Tel: 970-493-6532 Fax: 970-493-6538
