Mission
To generate and communicate credible scientific
information about the relationship between hazardous substances and adverse
human health effects to promote responsive public health actions.
The Division's Primary Responsibilities
Health Studies/Activities
Health
studies use a scientific approach to collect information to find out if a
chemical exposure is making people sick. Most of our health studies have
three steps.
- The first is to measure the amount of chemical that people are
exposed to.
- The second determines the kinds of health conditions people
have, how many people have these conditions, and when they developed them.
- The final step uses statistics to study the relationship between
chemical exposure and disease.
After these activities are completed, a report is written and shared with
the community. Health activities may include new studies, ongoing studies,
medical screenings and analysis of existing datasets.
Registries
A registry is a database that includes information about people with
specific exposures or diseases. The data are collected when a person is
identified as having been exposed to a specific contaminant or event (e.g.,
dioxin registry or World Trade Center health registry).
The data are maintained over time and are intended to be used in
epidemiological studies to examine long-term health outcomes (exposure
registries) or risk factors for illness (disease registries).
Surveillance
Surveillance is the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and
interpretation of health data essential to the planning, implementation, and
evaluation of public health practice, closely integrated with the timely
dissemination of these data. The final link of the surveillance chain is the
application of these data to prevention and control.
A surveillance system includes a functional capacity for data collection,
analysis and dissemination linked to public health programs.
Organization
Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program (GRASP)
Use Geographic Information System (GIS) to:
- identify potentially susceptible populations that live near hazardous
substances waste sites or emergency events
- characterize cases, affected populations, and contamination
- analyze relationships between geographic features.
Health Investigations Branch (HIB)
- Design and conduct studies to evaluate the association between exposure
to hazardous substances and adverse health effects.
- Conduct health studies to assess risk of disease due to hazardous
substance exposure.
- Develop methods to examine the potential link between hazardous exposure
and adverse health effects.
- Oversee research conducted by cooperative agreement partners and states
funded under the agency’s broad cooperative agreement program. The purpose
of the state program is to conduct and coordinate site-specific health
activities to evaluate whether community members may be at risk from
hazardous substances.
Surveillance and Registries Branch (SRB)
- Design and conduct ongoing surveillance programs to collect, analyze,
and interpret health data on persons exposed to hazardous substances
- Disseminate exposure information to the public and to public health
officials for prevention, response, and control purposes.
- Collect and analyze information about hazardous substance releases
through the Hazard Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) System,
and use the data to develop strategies to reduce injury and death from
events.
- Establish and maintain registries of persons exposed to toxic
substances.