ATSDR struggles to better inform and protect communities
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is responsible for assessing health risks at Superfund sites and other hazardous waste locations across the country. It is an enormous job that calls for expertise in a very wide range of scientific fields—from veterinary medicine to meteorology. Sometimes, with the best knowledge available, the risks are uncertain. And the agency has lost several hundred staff positions over the last few years.
In addition, the agency has faced criticism from Congressional members and elsewhere that it is too driven by government and industry desires to minimize potential health risks from toxic exposures.
A few specific areas in which the ATSDR has been challenged are its conclusions that the level of asbestos at Illinois Beach State Park on Lake Michigan are not high enough to pose a human health risk. An environmental consultant investigating the area says that the ASTDR’s work there was outdated and inferior. And current scientific opinion is that no exposure to asbestos can be considered safe.
The ASTDR also says that the risk to human health from chemicals discharged in Midlothian, Texas is “indeterminate” because the agency isn’t equipped to evaluate the significance of deformities seen in horses and dogs from the area.
A former EPA scientist told the Congressional panel investigating the agency that the government should be cautious and protect communities from toxic exposures even in the absence of absolute proof that they cause harm to humans.
A high level ASTDR official says that the agency is evaluating its services and looking for ways to do a better job.
For more information, see the Associated Press story.
