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What
You Can Expect From ATSDR:
1. What is
ATSDR?
2. What ATSDR will do
3. What ATSDR does not do
What
is ATSDR?
The Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is a federal public health agency in
Atlanta, Georgia. The agency's mission is to prevent harm to human
health and diminished quality of life from exposure to hazardous substances
found at waste sites, in unplanned releases, and in other sources
of pollution present in the environment. ATSDR identifies communities
where people might be exposed to hazardous substances in the environment.
The agency also determines how hazardous a site is and recommends
actions that need to be taken to safeguard the health of community
members. ATSDR works with communities, environmental groups, tribal
governments and local, state, and other federal agencies to protect
the public health.
ATSDR
will, as appropriate, do the following:
-
Involve communities
and tribes when responding to their environmental public
health concerns;
-
Be independent, objective
and make public health decisions based on current available
science;
-
Review and assess
environmental, health and community information and data;
-
Contact the relevant
federal, tribal, state, and local health and environmental agencies,
and always the communities, while investigating a hazardous waste
site or release;
-
Collect additional
data through exposure investigations, limited/targeted environmental
sampling, and health studies to assess health impacts;
-
Provide and explain
the results of our evaluations, medical consultations, and investigations
to communities and tribes;
-
Provide environmental
health education for health care providers, communities, and tribes;
-
Provide emergency
response assistance for acute hazardous materials accidents;
-
Refer individuals
to specialists in environmental medicine for health care followup;
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Incorporate public
comments received on ATSDR draft documents into finalized documents;
-
Refer public health
issues or problems to other federal, tribal, state or local governmental
entities when they do not fall within ATSDR's area of responsibility.
ATSDR
does not:
-
Conduct large-scale
site- or release-related environmental sampling (responsibility
of the Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental
agencies);
-
Enforce regulations
(ATSDR is an advisory, nonregulatory public health agency);
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Provide medical treatment
and health care services.
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