Public Health Advisories

An advisory is an official notice that ATSDR gives to U.S. EPA or to a state regulatory agency. The advisory identifies an immediate threat to human health from a hazardous substance. The advisory also includes a recommendation to reduce exposure and any threat to human health. In the advisory ATSDR also notifies appropriate state and local health and environmental agencies about any public health problems.

Public Health Advisories include

• What the levels or concentrations of a hazardous substances are
• Whether people might be exposed to contamination and how they might come into contact with it (breathing, drinking, eating)
• What harm the substance might cause to people (the toxicity)
• Whether working or living near the site might affect people’s health
• Other dangers such as unsafe buildings, abandoned mine shafts, or other physical hazards.