Lead Ranks at the Top of ATSDR’s Updated Substance Priority List

Earlier this month, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry updated its substance priority list, which comprises chemicals that are candidates to become the subject of toxicological profiles prepared by ATSDR. Lead, arsenic, cadmium, vinyl chloride, and trichloroethylene are the top-ranked substances on the newly updated substance priority list. Substances on the list are ranked by how frequently they occur at facilities on EPA’s National Priorities List (NPL), their toxicity, and the potential for human exposure. Substances at the top of the list are those most commonly found at NPL sites and those “determined to pose the most significant potential threat to human health due to their known or suspected toxicity and potential for human exposure at these NPL sites,” ATSDR explains. The list is typically revised and published every two years.

ATSDR’s toxicological profiles are peer-reviewed evaluations of toxicological information on various substances. Each profile covers information about the health effects of a substance, its relevance to public health, its potential for human exposure, regulations and guidelines related to the substance, and more. A full list of substances with published toxicological profiles is available on the ATSDR website.

The latest version of ATSDR’s substance priority list can also be found on the agency’s website.