ATSDR’s Partnership to Promote Local Efforts To Reduce Environmental Exposure

Description

In 1980, Congress created the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to implement the health-related sections of laws that protect the public from hazardous wastes and environmental spills of hazardous substances. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), commonly known as the "Superfund" Act, provided the Congressional mandate to remove or clean up abandoned and inactive hazardous waste sites and to provide federal assistance in toxic emergencies. As the lead Agency within the Public Health Service for implementing the health-related provisions of CERCLA, ATSDR is charged to assess the presence and nature of health hazards at specific Superfund sites, to help prevent or reduce further exposure and the illnesses that result from such exposures, and to expand the knowledge base about health effects from exposure to hazardous substances. In 1984, amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) authorized ATSDR to conduct public health assessments (PHAs) at these sites. ATSDR was also authorized to assist the United States (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in determining which substances should be regulated and the levels at which substances may pose a threat to human health. With the passage of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), ATSDR received additional responsibilities in environmental public health. This Act broadened ATSDR's responsibilities in the areas of PHAs, establishment and maintenance of toxicological databases, information dissemination, and medical education. In 2017, ATSDR launched the Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education (CSPECE) effort under CDC-RFA-TS17-1701 to prevent harmful exposures among children before they occur. Newly licensed ECE programs might inadvertently open in places where children and staff could be exposed to environmental contamination. CSPECE helps prevent new ECE locations from being sited in potentially harmful locations through licensing landscape assessment, partnership building, and other activities. Several state programs demonstrated CSPECE is effective at preventing ECEs from being located at sites that risk harmful environmental exposures. This NOFO builds on previous efforts of developing CSPECE programs where there were none and expanding existing programs. In 2019, ATSDR’s Office of Capacity Development and Applied Prevention Science established the priority to build capabilities by translating science into tools and actions that individuals, communities, and organizations apply to identify, reduce, or prevent health effects from exposures to hazardous substances. This NOFO also seeks to support innovative, non-site-specific activities to contribute to ATSDR’s capacity and prevention mission. Such efforts can increase the efficiency of activities and expand reach to more communities, thereby increasing public health impact. The primary purposes of this NOFO are to: 1) Decrease or eliminate exposures to hazardous substances through site-related health assessments and 2) Prevent exposures to hazardous substances through proactive programs that inform knowledge, behavior, process, and policy changes through dissemination of best practices.

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