ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE
Open Access
DIRECT FROM ATSDR
Reconstructing the Past to Protect Communities Today
Jason Sautner, MS Office of Innovation and Analytics, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Patricia Ruiz, PhD Office of Innovation and Analytics, Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry Christopher Reh, PhD
Office of the Associate Director, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Summary
Editor’s Note: As part of our continued effort to highlight innovative approaches to improve the health and environment of communities, the Journal is pleased to publish regular columns from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ATSDR serves the public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and diseases related to toxic substances. The purpose of this column is to inform readers of ATSDR’s activities and initiatives to better understand the relationship between exposure to hazardous substances in the environment, its impact on human health, and how to protect public health. The findings and conclusions in this column are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of ATSDR and or CDC. Jason Sautner and Dr. Patricia Ruiz work in the Office of Innovation and Analytics within ATSDR. Dr. Christopher Reh works in the Office of the Associate Director within ATSDR.
What is already known about this topic?
Environmental contamination is often identified years after exposure, leaving limited monitoring data to character- ize historical exposure and associated health risks. To address this public health concern, the Agency for Toxic Sub- stances and Disease Registry integrates historical reconstruction (HR) and toxi- cokinetic (TK) modeling to estimate past environmental contaminant concentra- tions and corresponding internal doses. What is added by this column? Integrating HR with TK modeling enables environmental health practitioners to es- timate past exposures and internal dos- es when monitoring data are unavailable, strengthening exposure assessment and informing public health decisions. Appli- cations at Camp Lejeune and in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-affect- ed communities demonstrate how these complementary approaches support epidemiologic research, public health assessments, emergency response, community engagement, and evidence- based public health practice.
I ntroduction Understanding the health effects of environmental contamination often requires looking at past exposures. Many hazardous substance exposures occur years or even decades before detection, leav- ing monitoring data limited or incomplete. Communities and health professionals still seek answers about when exposures occur, their levels, and their current health impli- cations. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) addresses this issue using historical reconstruction (HR) and toxicokinetic (TK) modeling (Figure 1) to estimate past exposures and translate them into valuable public health insights (ATSDR, 2026; Desai et al., 2024).
Reconstructing Environmental Exposures HR uses environmental data, modeling tech- niques, and site-specific information to esti- mate past contaminant concentrations in air, water, and soil when direct measurements are unavailable. These approaches integrate conceptual site models, groundwater flow, fate-and-transport analyses, and water dis- tribution system modeling to estimate how contaminants move and change over time (Maslia et al., 2013). From Exposure to Internal Dose: Toxicokinetic Modeling TK modeling translates environmental expo- sures into internal dose metrics. These mod-
What are the implications for the practice of environmental public health?
HR and TK modeling strengthen environmental public health practice by providing scientifically grounded estimates of past exposures and in- ternal doses when monitoring data are unavailable. These approaches support evidence-based decisions for health assessments, emergency response, and management of legacy and emerg- ing environmental hazards.
36
Volume 89 • Number 4
https://doi.org/10.70387/001c.173649
Powered by FlippingBook