December 12th, 2017
Using advanced laboratory science and innovative techniques, scientists in CDC’s Environmental Health Laboratory at the National Center of Environmental Health (NCEH) have helped change the face of environmental public health in this country. By recognizing chemicals that enter the body from environmental exposure, by responding to terrorism and public health emergencies involving chemicals, and by improving laboratory methods to measure chemical exposure, the laboratory has greatly enhanced the understanding of chemical exposure and related health effects for the nation and around the world. For more than three decades, laboratory scientists at NCEH have been determining which environmental chemicals enter people’s bodies, how much of those chemicals are actually present, and how the amounts of those chemicals may be related to health effects. The highly trained scientists measure levels of chemicals directly in people’s blood or urine. Rather than predicting how much of a substance gets into people from estimates based on measurements in food, water, air, and other media, NCEH’s laboratory scientists have taken out the guesswork by measuring low levels of chemicals that are actually in people’s bodies.And they do so with precision, speed, and accuracy, measuring many chemicals in a very small amount—often a teaspoon or less—of blood or urine.