ATSDR

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is a federal public health agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that investigates community exposures to hazardous substances, including asbestos. ATSDR conducts health assessments, issues toxicological profiles, and has documented elevated rates of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases in communities near contaminated sites such as Libby, Montana.

Origin

ATSDR was created by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or "Superfund") in 1980 and began operating in 1985. It works closely with the CDC and EPA to evaluate the human health impacts of environmental contamination.

Significance in Asbestos Context

ATSDR's published health consultations, exposure investigations, and toxicological profiles can be powerful evidence in an asbestos case, especially for people exposed environmentally rather than occupationally. Its work in Libby, Montana, where W.R. Grace mined vermiculite contaminated with tremolite asbestos, produced detailed exposure pathway analyses and disease registries that have supported thousands of claims. If you lived, worked, or went to school near a known asbestos site (Libby; Ambler, Pennsylvania; El Dorado Hills, California; shipyards; or vermiculite processing plants in dozens of states), ATSDR may have already documented the contamination, the exposure pathways, and the elevated disease risk in your community.

Related Terms

Libby Amphibole, W.R. Grace, EPA, Superfund Site, Environmental Exposure, Tremolite

Notes

• Search the ATSDR website (atsdr.cdc.gov) for any health consultation or public health assessment covering communities where you lived or worked. These reports name specific facilities, time periods, and exposure pathways.
• If you were exposed in Libby, Montana, ask your medical team about the Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) and the Libby Amphibole Medical Screening; ATSDR documentation supports both medical care and legal claims.
• Preserve any address history, school records, or employment records that place you near sites identified in ATSDR reports. Geographic proximity during the documented exposure window is often a key piece of evidence.
• ATSDR's Toxicological Profile for Asbestos is a frequently cited reference in expert reports; your legal team may use it to establish general causation and exposure thresholds.

In our library

3 documents in our library name ATSDR, by collection.

Other library documents (3)

• Toxicological Profile for Asbestos (1990) (publisher)
• Toxicological Profile for Asbestos (1995) (publisher)
• Toxicological Profile for Asbestos (2001) (publisher)

Where this comes from

This page brings together every document in our library that names ATSDR, across collections. Titles and affiliations are taken from the documents themselves, and units and subsidiaries are grouped under the company they belong to.