The Emergency Response and Air Toxicants Branch develops and maintains state-of-the-art analytical methods for identifying chemical agents used during acts of chemical terrorism. The branch also transfers these methods to state public health laboratories. Other branch responsibilities includes conducting research, method development, and analyses related to tobacco products, including the tobacco itself, tobacco smoke and its constituents, and levels of tobacco byproducts in people. The branch is also involved in conducting research and analytical method development on volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a broad spectrum of organic chemicals with different physio-chemical and biological properties. VOCs that the laboratory studies include benzene, tetrachloroethene, trihalomethanes, and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive. Chronic exposure to high levels of certain VOCs has been associated with cancer, and neurologic dysfunction.
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