Agency for toxic substances and disease registry

The congressional mandates under which the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) operates are generally broad in scope, but very specific in intent. They concern the health effects of human exposure to hazardous substances in the environment. This report recounts the accomplishments in meeting specific mandates and indicates plans and directions for work to meet others. The report is organized by program area and covers the federal fiscal year 1987 (October 1, 1986 through September 30, 1987). Two items of importance were performed in FY 1987 by senior management at ATSDR that are not directly reportable by individual program area: first, the priorities of the agency's programs were reordered, and second, the formation of an ATSDR Board of Scientific Counselors was initiated. The reordering of priorities reflects the agency's have in met certain mandates (such as completion of the first 25 toxicological profiles) and takes cognizance of other congressionally mandated deadlines (such as performing health assessments for all National Priorities List Superfund sites). The agency is establishing a Board of Scientific Counselors to provide advice and guidance on ATSDR's programs to ensure scientific quality, timeliness, utility, and dissemination of results. Specifically, the board will advise on the adequacy of science in ATSDR-supported research, emerging problems that require scientific investigation, accuracy and currency of science in ATSDR reports, and program areas to be emphasized and/or deemphasized. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry continued , in FY 1987, to meet its mission of preventing of mitigating adverse human health effects and diminished quality of life resulting from exposure to hazardous substances in the environment. 156 refs.