The Trump administration earlier this month shut down a federal database tracking pollution located on the National Library of Medicine's website, a blow to researchers, reports The Hill.
The NLM said most content would remain available through other NLM databases and external websites.
"On December 16, 2019, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) TOXNET (TOXicology Data NETwork) website will be retired," read the NLM's statement in September when it first notified the site would be retired. "Most content will remain available through other NLM databases as well as from external websites."
"Several resources in TOXNET came from other organizations, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and will continue to be available from those sources," it continued. "Some databases will be retired."
Researchers told Scientific American the loss of the tracker would inhibit public access to data on environmental hazards.
"I think it's really sad that they're getting rid of this," said Claudia Persico, an environmental policy scholar at American University who studies the impact of pollution on children's health.
Chris Sellers, an environmental historian at Stony Brook University and a member of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative said the tool was beneficial in that it "cut through all the jargon, all the different interfaces that EPA, for instance, puts up before you get to the actual data that you're interested in."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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