National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP) data reveal trends in chemical exposure during lifespan

The National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP), established by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, collects data that can be used to initiate prevention activities to protect people from harm caused by toxic substance releases. NTSIP is a unique database with information on chemicals and quantities released, incident locations, contributing factors, injured persons, and public health actions such as evacuation.

New York State data from 2001 through 2010 were analyzed from NTSIP and its predecessor, the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance program, to examine trends in chemical exposures and adverse health consequences during a person's lifespan. Incident data including chemicals and causes of the releases for 3,299 victims were categorized into the following age groups: pre-school, primary grades through teen years, young adult, mature adult and senior. In every age group, human error was the primary contributing factor to the chemical incident. The chemical most frequently released in every age group was carbon monoxide. The second chemical most frequently released in reported incidents was pepper spray in two age groups: pre-school, and primary grades through teen years. For older age groups, the chemical exposures most frequently reported after carbon monoxide were not single chemical releases. These exposures varied, but all involved a reaction between two or more chemicals. The most frequently reported injury in each age group was central nervous system effects in pre-school, headache in primary grades through teen years, respiratory irritation in young and mature adults, and trauma in seniors. These data can guide prevention outreach.