U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer magazine
November-December 2001
Table
of Contents
By John Henkel
In a study released in September of more than 1,680 state and federal Web sites, Brown University rated the FDA's Web site (www.fda.gov) highest of all the federal sites it examined. The project evaluated whether needed information was available on sites and if average citizens could easily find this information.
Sites were graded on factors such as presence of contact information, availability of online publications, online services provided, and whether the sites included "one-stop shopping" portal pages with links to government services. The FDA site received 87 points out of 100. Of the sites evaluated, 1,621 were state government sites (about 32 per state), and 58 were federal sites.
Overall, Brown researchers said, state and federal agencies have improved significantly in delivering online information and services since the university conducted a similar study a year ago. "The bar is constantly moving higher," said Darrell West, director of Brown University's Taubman Center for Public Policy, which conducted the study. This year's study praised federal sites in general for making more rapid progress in "e-government" capabilities than many state sites. But the study also pointed out that some federal sites still failed to provide "meaningful assistance to citizens" and were found to lack basic information such as phone and address contact information.
The Brown team offered numerous suggestions to all sites for improvement including more interactive features, consistent design and navigation, and more rapid turnaround of online citizen requests.
Also scoring high in the federal portion of the study were sites run by the Department of Agriculture (78 points), Federal Communications Commission (76), Department of Housing and Urban Development (75), Internal Revenue Service (72), Department of Defense (71), and Department of Education (71).
To view the study, go to www.insidepolitics.org/egovt01us.html.
"Together, poor nutrition, obesity, and lack of physical activity are the second preventable cause of death in the United States today," says Susan Blumenthal, M.D., assistant surgeon general. To help consumers get a handle on how best to improve their health, Blumenthal has spearheaded the creation of Nutrition.gov, a doorway to more than a hundred health-related Web pages hosted by various federal agencies that have a goal of helping Americans shape up.
A large part of the site is devoted to information about diet and health, including pages on dietary supplements, nutritional guidelines, food safety, food labels, and specific dietary tips, including recipes. Another feature targets nutrition needs of specific audiences such as adults, children, and minorities. There's also information about disabilities, diseases (diabetes and heart disease, for example), pesticides, and foodborne illness. Users can download fact sheets, brochures, newsletters, and press releases produced by participating agencies.
To check out this valuable site, hosted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, go to www.nutrition.gov.
Buying medical products online has many advantages. It's quick, private, convenient, and it might even save money. But beware of "rogue sites" that either sidestep or ignore established procedures designed to protect consumers. These sites can look very professional and appear to be legitimate but may sell products that could cause dangerous drug interactions or harm from contaminated, counterfeit or outdated materials.
How can consumers recognize these sites? What makes a site "legitimate," and how can users know that advertised products are safe? The FDA has put together a group of Web pages that answer these questions and give users a crash course in buying medical products online.
Most recently, the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health created two sites: one (www.fda.gov/cdrh/consumer/buycontactqa.html) offers advice on buying contact lenses online (or by phone or mail); the other (www.fda.gov/cdrh/consumer/buyingmeddevonline.html) is a primer on buying all types of medical devices online. Also on the FDA Web site is a special page (www.fda.gov/oc/buyonline) that gives many tips for buying prescription medicines and other health-related products online. This site has links to sources within and outside the FDA that have important information for online shoppers, including the Federal Trade Commission, the National Consumers League, and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which certifies sites by holding them to rigorous standards.
One in seven Americans--15 percent of the U.S. population--has some type of learning disability (LD), according to the National Institutes of Health. These disabilities--difficulties with reading or language skills, for example--often go undetected and untreated. To help parents and teachers better understand LDs and recognize their signs, a Web site called LD Online (http://ldonline.org) offers an overview. The site gives the latest information from LD experts and allows users to submit questions. Also featured are a compendium of LD news items, audio clips from experts, and weekly submissions to the site by a guest artist and guest writer (typically young children). You also can sign up for a free LD newsletter.
LD Online is a venture of The Learning Project and the Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities.
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2001-OCT-26.