What is an Exposure Investigation?

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Introduction
An environmental health scientist is outdoors, holding and looking at two small sampling containers, a notebook, and a pen.

An exposure investigation, or EI, is a biological (blood, urine) or environmental (air, water, dust, soil, biota) sampling effort that is designed to fill a data gap to make public health decisions.

A data gap is missing information that is needed to help understand what contaminants and at what concentrations people could be exposed in order to make a health call at a site.

During the EI, the team attempts to sample individuals expected to be the most highly exposed (through biological monitoring) or locations expected to be the most contaminated (through environmental sampling).

Options to Fill Data Gaps

An EI is one alternative for filling a data gap at a site. ATSDR performs EIs when other methods are not possible.

The following are other alternatives:

  • Recommending that other agencies or organizations, such as EPA, tribal groups, state agencies, or site owners, conduct additional or future sampling
  • Modeling potential exposure to contamination

This primer will discuss when an EI is appropriate and the steps for conducting one.

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