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, 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.
As part of its response to the elevated number of children in Churchill County in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) had been diagnosed, the Nevada State Health Division (NSHD) requested technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The purpose of the subsequent collaborative investigation was to conduct a crosssectional exposure assessment to identify contaminants unique to the Churchill County community.
CDC Resources
