Public Health Activities

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Health Consultations, Public Health Assessments, and Health Investigations

A Health Consultation (HC) provides advice on a specific public health issue related to real or possible human exposure to toxic substances. Health Consultations are a way for ATSDR to respond quickly to a need for health information on toxic substances and to make recommendations for actions to protect the public’s health. A health consultation may look for:

  • Levels of hazardous substances
  • If and how people might be exposed to hazardous substances (through breathing air, drinking water, eating food, or coming into contact with soil)
  • What harm the substances might cause to people and whether working or living nearby might affect people’s health.

A Public Health Assessment (PHA) provides health information about a particular site that is greater in detail than a Health Consultation. PHAs showcase three types of information:

  • Environmental data, including information about contaminants and how people come into contact with them.
  • Health data, including available information on community-wide rates of illness, disease, and death compared with national and state rates; and,
  • Community concerns, such as reports from the public about how the site affects their health or quality of life.

A Health Investigation is a collection and evaluation of information about the health of community residents. This information is used to describe or count the occurrence of a disease, symptom, or clinical measure and to evaluate the possible association between the occurrence and exposure to hazardous substances.

Reports

Since 1994, ATSDR has released the following six reports for the LCP Chemicals site: