Occurring over a short time [compare with chronic].
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR):
The principal federal
public health agency involved with hazardous waste issues, responsible for preventing
or reducing the harmful effects of exposure to hazardous substances on human
health and quality of life. ATSDR is part of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
Chronic:
Occurring over a long time (more than 1 year) [compare with acute].
Contaminant:
A substance that is either present in an environment where it does
not belong or is present at levels that might cause harmful (adverse) health
effects.
Dermal Contact:
Contact with (touching) the skin (see route of exposure).
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Exposure:
Contact with a substance by swallowing, breathing, or touching the
skin or eyes. Exposure may be short-term [acute exposure], of intermediate duration, or long-term [chronic exposure].
Groundwater:
Water beneath the earth's surface in the spaces between soil particles
and between rock surfaces [compare with surface water].
Hazardous substance:
Any material that poses a threat to public health and/or the environment. Typical hazardous substances are materials that are toxic,
corrosive, ignitable, explosive, or chemically reactive.
Indeterminate public:
The category used in ATSDR's public health
assessment documents when a professional judgment about the level of health
hazard cannot be made because information critical to such a decision is lacking.
Ingestion:
The act of swallowing something through eating, drinking, or mouthing
objects. A hazardous substance can enter the body this way [see route of exposure].
Inhalation:
The act of breathing. A hazardous substance can enter the body this way [see route of exposure]
Media:
Soil, water, air, plants, animals, or any other part of the environment
that can contain contaminants.
No apparent public health:
A category used in ATSDR's public health assessments
for sites where human exposure to contaminated media might be occurring, might
have occurred in the past, or might occur in the future, but where the exposure
is not expected to cause any harmful health effects.
Plume:
A volume of a substance that moves from its source to places farther away
from the source. Plumes can be described by the volume of air or water they
occupy and the direction they move. For example, a plume can be a column of
smoke from a chimney or a substance moving with groundwater.
Route of exposure:
The way people come into contact with a hazardous substance.
Three routes of exposure are breathing [inhalation], eating or drinking [ingestion],
or contact with the skin [dermal contact].
Surface Water:
Water on the surface of the earth, such as in lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, and springs [compare with groundwater].
