The current issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research (available free of charge in full text on the Web) has an article by Dr Ahmad Risk that examines the various initiatives that have been established to help users identify high-quality health information resources on the Internet.

The author concludes that none of the code of conducts developed thus far fully protects the consumer from inaccurate or dubious information. To address this problem the author suggests a framework of action and calls for the WHO to take the lead in developing norms and standards for Internet health information quality.

UK health news
http://bmj.com/uknews/archive/

The BMJ have launched a new service that provides online readers with a summary of the weeks main health stories as reported by the UK national press. These stories are also archived - back to 26 November 2001 - providing readers (and future historians) with a snapshot of the most important health stories/scares on a week-by-week basis.

Melanoma information on the Web - often inaccurate
http://www.jco.org/cgi/content/abstract/20/1/134

An article published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that in a survey of web sites that provide information about melanoma, 14% of sites contained inaccurate information. The paper concludes that 'health care providers can help patients by recommending comprehensive and accurate Web sites for patient review, by working to create accurate and thorough Web-based health information material, and by educating patients and the public about the variability in completeness and accuracy'.

US Federal Trade Commission acts against fraudulent health claims
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/12/westdiet.htm

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a complaint against the Western Herb & Dietary Products, Inc for publishing unsubstantiated claims for their products. Trading on the Web as CureCancer.com the company claimed that their "Zapper Electrical Unit" is effective against Alzheimer's, and HIV/AIDS and that various herbal products can treat and cure cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, arthritis, and HIV/AIDS. [See pp 142-147 of the Patient's Internet Handbook for more information about this type of misinformation.]

The company has withdrawn this information from the site - but if you want to see what had been published visit the Internet Archive's copy of the site from February 2001 at:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010228163332/http://www.united-american.com/Disease_Cures/Alsziemers/alsziemers.html

Health information more popular than games
http://www.kff.org/content/2001/20011211a/

A report published by the Kaiser Family Foundation in the US found that more young people (aged 15-24) go online to find health information than to play games or chat. Nearly 40% of those questioned go online for health information as least once a month.

The full report is available online.

Patients Internet Handbook

The Patient's Internet Handbook has received considerable coverage over the past four weeks. A review in the Lancet (2001, vol.358.issue 9298) praised the book, describing is as 'an excellent and reasonably priced guide' that 'should be available to any practising clinician in the UK'. Another review (in Health Matters) concluded that the 'Handbook has a lot of useful tips - particularly about how to use search engines, and about the content available in medical databases - which are not easy to find elsewhere'.

Away from the medical press, the book has been reviewed or mentioned in the Daily Mirror, Good Housekeeping and on the Channel 4 Web site.

Robert Kiley - 10 January 2002