From 1992 to 2003, NORC completed more than 60 studies by providing a broad range of services to ATSDR. These included site-based investigations in communities where environmental health concerns had been raised, follow-up and surveillance of at-risk and exposed populations, identification and tracing of persons exposed up to five decades previously, telephone-based case control studies to investigate the relationship between exposure and disease, establishment and maintenance of registries of persons exposed to hazardous substances, psychological and neurobehavioral testing of children and adults, and administration of medical tests, and collection of biomeasures.

An illustrative 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, which 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) establishment of 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, (c) setting up a site-based medical testing program including administration of a health status interview, chest x-rays, and pulmonary function tests to more than 8,000 respondents, and (d) employing expert radiologists to review the x-rays, and (e) preparing a final report and analytic dataset.

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