Peer Review

Tox Town is an interactive learning resource developed by the National Library of Medicine to provide information about the location of toxic substances in our environment. The learning resource is available in both English and Spanish. It includes a teachers guide designed for K-12 teachers.Tox Town consists of five neighborhoods (city, farm, town, border, and port) where environmental concerns abound. There is no cost associated with using the resources at Tox Town.

1. Identify water, air, and noise pollution that are present in different neighborhoods.
2. Understand the effect that chemicals and other aspects of our environment have on human health.

The animations are appropriate for students in high school or the first 2 years of undergraduate study in college and the concerned public. Students studying environmental sciences or pre-professionals in the health sciences such as nursing, respiratory therapy, and medicine would benefit from using this learning resource.

1.      Ability to navigate an Internet site with multiple links and hot spots.

2.      General knowledge of chemical names and high school vocabulary.

3.      Knowledge of common health concerns including hearing and vision problems, infections, and breathing problems.

Collection: Tox Town is a collection of images with mouse roll-overs, menus, and external links which provide information about environmental hazards that might be present in a neighborhood.

The learning resource could be used as a stand alone resource because it has accompanying descriptions of toxic substances by linking the site to ToxNet. In addition, Tox Town is linked to Medline Plus which provides additional information about health concerns.

In order to view the images in Tox Town, Flash must be installed (there is a text-only version available). Sounds are provided to increase interest for the user, but not necessary to understanding the content. No other programs are required. Tox Town runs equally well in Firefox and Internet Explorer.