Homeland Security Research

Research Highlights

Provisional Advisory Levels (PALs) for Hazardous Agents – Special Journal Edition

Provisional Advisory Levels support risk-based decision making

Hazardous substances released during a terrorist attack will contaminate the environment, but there are few health-based guidelines to support decisions on temporary occupancy of contaminated spaces or resumed use of spaces or water following a large-scale disaster.  To address these exposure knowledge gaps, ORD researcher Dr. Femi Adeshina is leading research on development of health-based provisional advisory levels (PALs) for high priority chemicals and chemical warfare agents in air and drinking water.

PALs are exposure values used to inform risk-based decision making during a response to environmental contamination involving hazardous chemicals. They are advisory levels for exposure to chemicals by the public (including sensitive sub-populations) and are developed for acute (24 hours), short-term (longer than one to 30 days), and long-term (longer than 30 days to two years) exposures.  Such values are needed to protect workers and citizens who may need to return to contaminated areas to retrieve valuables, or reside near or within contaminated areas while cleanup is underway.

The peer-reviewed monthly journal, Inhalation Toxicology dedicated their December 2009 issue to this research.  The articles explain the method used to develop PALs, their significance to homeland security, and provide examples of PALS developed for three contaminants of concern.

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See Also
Provisional Advisory Levels (PALs) for Hazardous Agents