Ascertaining Relationships Between
Exposure to Toxic Substances and Disease:
Toxicologic Research
A
second major goal of ATSDR is to
for human exposure. Each substance on the
ascertain the relationship between expo-
priority list is a candidate to become the subject
sure to toxic substances in the environ-
of a toxicological profile prepared by ATSDR
ment and disease. To help achieve that goal,
and, subsequently, a candidate for the identifica-
ATSDR has a toxicological research program
tion of priority data needs.
that is filling many of the data gaps about how
Table 1.
Top 10 Substances on the 2001
hazardous substances affect human health.
Priority List
ATSDR also helps provide information about
the relationship between hazardous substances
Rank
Name
and health outcomes by developing toxicologi-
1
cal profiles that summarize information about
many of the most hazardous substances found at
2
Lead
Superfund sites.
3
Mercury
4
Vinyl chloride
Identification and Ranking
5
Polychlorinated biphenyls
of Hazardous Substances
6
Benzene
The Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980
7
Cadmium
(CERCLA) Priority List of Hazardous
8
Benzo(a)pyrene
Substances contains the names of 275 sub-
stances found at NPL sites and believed to pose
9
Polyaromatic hydrocarbons
the most significant potential threat to human
10
Benzo(b)fluoranthene
health. This list helps form ATSDR priorities on
many issues. The Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) requires
To ensure that the priority list is current,
ATSDR, in cooperation with EPA, to compile
ATSDR periodically re-examines its infor-
this priority list, which is drawn from all haz-
mation database (HazDat) of all hazardous
ardous substances known to exist at NPL sites.
substances known to exist at NPL sites. In
The ranking of substances on the priority list is
October 2001, the 2001 CERCLA Priority
based on three criteria: (1) frequency of occur-
List of Hazardous Substances was published.
rence at NPL sites, (2) toxicity, and (3) potential
Its availability was announced in the Federal
chapter 2 31
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