Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry - Profiles

Agency for Toxic Substances & Diseases Registry (ATSDR) works to protect the public from environmental hazards and toxic exposures. These functions include public health assessments of waste sites, health consultations concerning specific hazardous substances, health surveillance and registries, response to emergency releases of hazardous substances, applied research in support of public health assessments, information development and dissemination, and education and training concerning hazardous substances.

Supporting functions include:

• Public Health Assessments
• Toxicological Profiles
• Emergency Response,
• Exposure and Disease Registries
• Health Effects Research
• Health Education
• Special Initiatives in Environmental Health

ATSDR conducts and funds studies on hazardous substances and publishes toxicological profiles on many hazardous substances. ATSDR provides technical support to other federal agencies, states, and local governments that respond to accidental spills or releases of hazardous substances. Unlike EPA, ATSDR is not a regulatory agency. ATSDR is a public health agency that advises EPA on the health aspects of hazardous waste sites or spills. ATSDR makes recommendations to EPA when specific actions are needed to protect public health.

The ATSDR headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. The agency has 10 regional offices and an office in Washington, D.C. The multidisciplinary staff of approximately 400 includes epidemiologists, toxicologists, physicians, engineers, and public health educators. ATSDR has a joint office of the Director with the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH).