About the Division of Community Health Investigations (DCHI)

The Division of Community Health Investigations (DCHI) is part of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). DCHI works to reduce people’s exposures to toxic (that is, poisonous) substances in the environment. DCHI staff members

• Evaluate environmental exposures and recommend ways to protect people’s health
• Prepare environmental reports based on our findings
• Get communities involved in public health activities and supply health education materials to those communities
• Give technical help to communities, states, tribes, and other agencies
• Work with ATSDR tribal programs and help with environmental justice activities

DCHI staff can become involved in your community if:

• You live near a site proposed for or listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) National Priorities List (NPL). This is U.S. EPA’s list of the most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the United States.
• An individual community member petitions ATSDR for a public health assessment of a site or facility.
• Local, state, federal, or tribal governments ask ATSDR for help in evaluating releases of hazardous substances into the environment.