The Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Program collects, analyzes, and shares data and information on environmental factors that affect our health. This includes the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.
As people, we are connected to and part of the natural world. Because of this, getting outdoors and enjoying nature is important for our overall health.
In our daily lives, we might also be exposed to environmental hazards, like tiny particles in the air from factories, cars, or wildfires; dangerous algae in lakes or ponds; or severe weather.
Indoors, where we tend to spend a lot of our time, the levels of pollution are often higher than they are outdoors. Some examples of pollution or hazards inside buildings are chemical cleaners, carbon monoxide, radon, or lead in old paint.
Environmental hazards are any chemicals, poisons, or conditions that can cause harm. Just because a hazard is present doesn't mean health problems will happen. However, being exposed to enough of a hazard over time could lead to sickness or other health issues.
We've learned a lot about how the environment affects health, but there's still much more to discover. For instance, some connections between health and the environment are still not proven, such as possible links between certain cancers and exposure to pollution.
Environmental Topics
Agricultural chemical use data and resources
Air quality data and resources
Fish consumption advisory and map
Data on pollen and mold allergens in outdoor air
Data on residential radon test results
Public water quality data and resources
Data and information on the impacts of changes in weather
Additional Resources
- Podcasts: Environmental Health Chat
- The EPA’s Enforcement & Compliance History Online (ECHO) State Dashboard for Missouri
- National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
- Pesticides
- Motor Vehicle Emissions
The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
Missouri Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) is a program within the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. EPHT is part of a network of people and information systems which delivers a core set of health, exposure, and hazards data, information summaries and tools to enable analysis, visualization and reporting of insights drawn from data. Those insights are intended to help data drive actions and improve community health.