Local, state, and international health officials who handle multiple emergencies involving chemicals have contacted CDC for assistance. When these officials have reliable data about whether people actually are exposed to a particular chemical and how much of a chemical people have been exposed to, they can make timely decisions that protect people's health and prevent any further exposure...more
The possibility of a terrorist chemical attack underscores the need for a reliable way to determine the identity of chemical agents and find out who has been exposed and to what extent. To this end, CDC is using the science of biomonitoring to protect the American public in the event of a chemical incident.
Applying State-of-the-Art Laboratory Methods
Many people worry that they and their families have been exposed to chemicals that cause cancer or other debilitating illnesses. State public health departments seek CDC's help in investigating geographic clusters of cases of cancer, birth defects, or other diseases and in determining whether the cases resulted from exposure to toxic substances. To support states in those investigations, CDC's Environmental Health Laboratory can measure up to 300 environmental chemicals in people's blood or urine to produce an exposure profile for people living in a particular geographic area. That profile can then be compared with the exposure profile of average Americans to determine whether unusual exposures have occurred among people in the cluster that warrant public health action.
