NEUROBEHAVIORAL TESTING AND HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL SITES

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has focus ed its health assessment efforts on seven priority health conditions, including neurotoxic disorders, and has begun to select tests and asso ciated measurement tools that can detect those health effects. The eva luation of community-level exposures has introduced new challenges bey ond the earlier testing models based on occupational exposures. Commun ity populations are far more diverse than those found in workplace set tings, including children, elderly persons, and the infirm, and the ne urotoxic agents present at most hazardous waste sites usually are inco mpletely characterized and commonly are found in complex mixtures. Thi s article describes the background to the four following articles repo rting on a 3-day national workshop convened to assist ATSDR in develop ing standardized neurobehavioral test batteries for studies of adverse health outcomes in communities.