Carbon monoxide poisoning is a potentially fatal condition that results from a person inhaling, or absorbing through other means carbon monoxide gas. Because carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, gas that forms from the incomplete combustion of carbon, it is difficult to detect, so people should be aware of the signs of poisoning to prevent at worst death. Many modern day appliances emit carbon monoxide as a result of their operation, and so carbon monoxide poisoning is an environmental health issue which could potential affect almost anyone living in the modern, urban world. The United States Government’s site for The Center For Disease Control offers information on how to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate how the CDC presents their information and compare it with other websites offering the same.
The CDC begins their warning by reminding people that when they set their clocks ahead on Sunday, March 9th, to remember to change the batteries in their Co detector. The information is not attributed to any specific author, which compromises the credibility. But in the case of the CDC, because it is already recognized as a reputable government agency, the authority of the information is stronger than if it was presented on a lesser known site of a lesser known agency.
The objective here is clear, to help people avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. As the page has been updated in March 2014, the web documents are up to date. The CDC also presents their information in easy to understand bullet points, and graphics to illustrate their points. The document is short, which is appropriate for the web. There are links at the end of the document where those interested in learning more can do so. It also provides a way to access the information in 16 different languages at the end of the article where it reads, “Click here for Important CO Poisoning Prevention Tips in 16 Additional Languages” (CDC, 2014). This however, would not help someone who was trying to find this information and did not speak English. A better way to present this information would be to put flags corresponding to a language at the top of the page so that if someone no fluent in English wanted to find the information in their own language, they could click on the flag that corresponds to it.
Colorado State University’s site, www.ext.colostate.edu also presents this information on their page “Preventing Carbon Monoxide Problems” It is written by K. R. Tremblay, who seems from his credentials to be an authority on the issue. He is the housing specialist and professor at CSU. The page has been updated timely, last updated on January 08, 2014. At the end of an article there are also a series of references to other documents of credible names such as The American Lung Association, Environmental Protection Agency, Healthy Indoor Air for America’s Homes, among others.
The document also includes graphics to help illustrate the information, and like the CDC the information is presented in bullet points. CSU goes onto greater length than does the CDC’s website, providing more thorough background, potential contaminations of carbon dioxide and lists plenty of outside resources for further reading in the reference section.
NHS, the national health society, a division of the British government’s site is similar to the CDC’s for it’s brevity, not listing an author. This site and the CDC’s site both seem less credible for their brevity, and not listing an author. The NHS’s site was last reviewed in 2012, so it makes the information not seem very up to date.
Overall, both government sites, the US and the UK’s, failed to provide the in depth information that the CSU’s site did. Reading the CSU’s page after reading the other two shows that the lists of potential contamination were not conclusion.
References:
"Carbon monoxide poisoning - Prevention ."Carbon monoxide poisoning. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Carbon-monoxide-poisoning/Pages/Prevention.aspx>.
"Prevent Carbon Monoxide (CO) Poisoning."Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 Mar. 2014. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.cdc.gov/features/timechangecodetectors/>.
"Preventing Carbon Monoxide Problems."Preventing Carbon Monoxide Problems. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/consume
