Methods, definitions and limitations
Health outcomes shown here are aggregated public statistics. Map patterns and statistical associations do not establish that an environmental facility or exposure caused an individual outcome. Rates may be unstable where births or deaths are few; suppressed, restricted, provisional, missing, and incomparable data must not be interpreted as zero. Environmental markers show locations or reports, not measured personal exposure. This tool is for transparent public-data exploration and should not be used for medical, legal, or causal conclusions.
Reproducibility and provenance
What is recorded for every published view, the final vs provisional policy, and how to reproduce a view.
Research use and review readiness
Appropriate and inappropriate uses, citation guidance, and the research inquiry route.
This Atlas exists to make published aggregate statistics legible in space and time. Spatial patterns can suggest questions; they cannot answer them. A county with a higher observed rate and a nearby facility tells you those two facts co-occur in the same aggregate unit — nothing about any pregnancy, infant, household, or exposure pathway.
The interface deliberately avoids the words “hotspot,” “dangerous,” “poisoned,” and “responsible,” and uses “higher observed rate” and “associated with” instead.