Chemical Threat Analytical Response Program

The Chemical Threat Analytical Response (CTAR) section’s primary duty is to serve as a Level 1 Surge Capacity Laboratory for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. They are able to determine whether human chemical exposure to a number of chemical contaminants or toxins has occurred by measuring either the chemical, or its metabolic by-products, in either blood or urine samples. There are 10 similar Level 1 Surge Capacity Laboratories in various locations around the US.

The CTAR section also works with various biomonitoring projects at the State and Federal Level. The most recently-funded example is our participation in the Four Corner States’ Biomonitoring Consortium, to look at exposures from naturally-occuring toxic metals in private well water samples, and exposures to pyrethroid insecticides for agricultural workers. This work is being done in collaboration with the epidemiologists in the New Mexico Department of Health, the State Public Health Laboratories in Arizona, Utah and Colorado, and the CDC in Atlanta.