When the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA)¹ was enacted in October 1986, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was still in the early stages of development as a new entity in the Public Health Service.² Staff had to be recruited; an organizational structure had to be developed; working arrangements with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the states had to be defined and implemented; and a host of policy decisions had to be resolved. None of this could be accomplished overnight; indeed, the Agency is still maturing. Notwithstanding these challenges, ATSDR has accomplished much in the last three years.

This Dialogue is ATSDR's response to the article by Martin R. Siegel entitled "Integrating Public Health Into Superfund: What Has Been the Impact of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry?"³ Siegel's article refers to ATSDR's programs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA or Superfund)⁴ and comments on the Agency's fulfillment of its Superfund responsibilities since passage of SARA four years ago.