Health Information on the Internet

In Reply: We agree with Ms. Gagnon that high-quality medical sites do exist on the Internet. However, our study showed that the search strategy employed by most Internet users leads to rather more dubious material. Ms. Gagnon mentions that many public libraries have Web sites with links to reviewed health information, yet not a single library site appeared when we used our search terms. Those of us whose duty it is to inform and educate should strive to ensure that our expertise is fairly represented by the major commercial search engines.