For the past eight years, NORC has provided a broad range of services to ATSDR. These include site-based investigations in communities where environmental health concerns have been raised, follow-up and surveillance of at-risk and exposed populations, identification and tracing of persons exposed up to five decades previously, and administering medical tests. An illustrative recent task order involved a vermiculite mine and two refining facilities. These facilities, which operated from 1920 to 1990, produced a finished product made from vermiculite ore. The ore mined at the site has been shown to be contaminated with asbestos. Asbestos exposure is associated with several severe diseases, including lung cancer and mesothelioma (a cancer of the chest wall lining). NORC’s task was to identify the group of exposed persons from a target list sample provided by ATSDR, so that they could be referred for appropriate health screening in as timely a manner as possible. In addition to screening exposed persons still living in the area, NORC’s work included (a) establishing a toll-free hotline so that people who had moved outside the area and might have been exposed could call in, (b) extending the screening process to include them, and (c) setting up a site-based medical testing program including a CAPI health status interview, chest x-rays, and pulmonary function tests to more than 6000 respondents.

Related Links:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)