Exposure science for PFAS contamination. vapor intrusion. ethylene oxide claims. groundwater plumes. legacy asbestos. source attribution. medical monitoring. Daubert challenges.

Where the science of environmental exposure meets the standard of proof it has to satisfy.

6disciplines
18subject areas
2causation showings
How it works

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Specialist research agents read the primary sources themselves — the regulations and the peer-reviewed literature — not summaries of them.

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Describe the matter. The AI Research Concierge answers from the Institute’s own research, not from the open web.

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Some questions need a toxicologist, not an article. Tell the Institute what you are facing.

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What was the exposure?

Start a conversation with our AI Research Concierge. It will help you scope the question — what has to be established, what evidence would establish it, and which discipline does that work. It does not give causation opinions, and nothing it says is medical or legal advice. Select an area to begin.

AI Research ConciergeScope a matter or find an expert
Tell me about the matter — the substance, who or what was exposed, and roughly when. I'll help you scope what has to be shown and which disciplines it takes. I won't give an opinion on causation, and nothing here is medical or legal advice.
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Expertise Unlocked

The Institute can conduct structured AI-assisted interviews with specialists across the relevant disciplines — toxicology, epidemiology, industrial hygiene, hydrogeology, analytical chemistry — so you can compare approaches before retaining anyone.

writing from the Institute

Where these matters actually fail.

A concentration is not a dose. A screening level is not an effect level. General causation is a question about populations and specific causation is a question about a person, and conflating them costs cases on both sides.

Explore the disciplines
A stack of bound epidemiological journals beside a groundwater monitoring well log on a wooden table, lit from a window at one side
Causation & Health Effects
How do courts decide whether a chemical caused a disease?
American courts split the question in two and decide them on different evidence: whether the substance can cause the disease at all, and whether it caused this person’s disease. This is a description of the framework and of what named decisions have held, not an opinion about any substance, any claimant or any pending matter.
September 15, 2026
 A row of stainless steel sample bottles on a laboratory bench beside a municipal water treatment plant clarifier seen through a window, no text or people in the frame
Contaminants & Exposure Media
What is the federal drinking water standard for PFAS?
The only PFAS limits enforceable nationally on 15 September 2026 are the maximum contaminant levels the Environmental Protection Agency published on 26 April 2024, and two proposals published on 20 May 2026 would narrow them. Nothing in those proposals has been finalized and the 2024 rule is also under review in the D.C. Circuit, so every number below carries a date.
September 15, 2026
 A row of modest single-family houses seen from across a quiet residential street, with a chain-link fence and an open grassy lot in the foreground, photographed on an overcast afternoon
Property, Community & Class Claims
Can neighbors recover for property value loss near a contaminated site?
In some states yes and in others no, and the dividing line is usually whether contamination physically reached the claimant's own parcel. This page explains what the law requires and what evidence the claim needs; it does not estimate any loss, which is a separate discipline.
September 15, 2026
 A stainless steel evacuated canister with a flow controller sitting on the concrete floor of an empty basement beside a foundation wall, photographed in daylight from a low angle
Exposure & Pathway Analysis
What is vapor intrusion, and when does it become a legal problem?
Vapor intrusion is the migration of volatile chemicals from contaminated soil or groundwater into the air inside a building above it. The federal framework for assessing it is guidance rather than a binding rule, and its screening values are deliberately conservative triggers for further work — not health limits and not cleanup standards.
September 15, 2026
 A gloved hand holding a groundwater sampling bottle beside a monitoring well casing in an industrial lot
Statutory Framework
Who pays for a contaminated site cleanup under CERCLA?
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act names four categories of potentially responsible party at 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a), and any one of them can be made to pay the whole cost of cleanup — strict, joint and several liability that does not ask who was at fault, only who fits one of the four categories, unless a defendant can prove the harm is capable of division.
September 15, 2026
 An empty wooden witness chair beside a low rail in a quiet courtroom, morning light falling across the floor
Evidence & Admissibility
Why are toxic tort experts excluded, and what did the 2023 amendment to Rule 702 change?
Federal Rule of Evidence 702 was amended effective 1 December 2023 to state the proponent’s burden in the text of the rule and to direct attention to what an expert concludes, not only to the method used. This describes the amendment, what the Advisory Committee said it was correcting, and the exclusion patterns that recur in toxic tort matters; it is not advice about any motion and predicts no outcome.
September 15, 2026
common questions

What counsel ask before they trust a site like this.

These come before the science does. If the answers are unsatisfying, nothing further down the page will help.

What does the Institute actually do?
It makes the first hour of understanding free. Describe a contamination or toxic tort matter and the research concierge will explain what a causation showing requires, which scientific disciplines do that work, and what evidence should be secured before a site changes. Where a matter needs a retained expert, the Institute finds the right one.
Will you tell me whether the exposure caused the illness?
No. Nothing here is an opinion on general or specific causation, and naming what a showing requires is not the same as concluding it has been met. That line is written into the concierge’s operating rules and holds on every conversation. If you are worried about your own health rather than a matter, speak with your own physician — that conversation comes first and nothing here substitutes for it.
How is the Institute paid?
The research assistance is free and stays free. When a matter requires a retained expert — an exposure reconstruction, a causation analysis, a data review, an advisory engagement or testimony — the Institute arranges the engagement through its expert network and is compensated for that work. That is the entire business model, and we publish it because visitors who cross-examine people for a living should not have to guess.
Which side do you work for?
Both, matter by matter. The Institute serves plaintiff and defense counsel, insurers and insureds, corporations and government, and takes matters one at a time. The science does not change according to who asked, and an institution that only ever reached conclusions convenient to one side would not be worth consulting from either.
Something is happening at the site next month. Does that matter?
Almost certainly, and it is the most time-sensitive thing on this page. Contamination evidence is perishable in a way documents are not: remediation removes the material an attribution analysis would characterize, buildings are demolished, monitoring wells are decommissioned and conditions shift. If sampling, excavation or closure is scheduled, raise it immediately — sometimes the entire technical case depends on what is collected beforehand, and that window does not reopen.
Is anything on this site legal or medical advice?
No to both. The Institute describes statutory frameworks in general terms for lawyers who already know them, and describes exposure science for people who need to understand what an expert would have to establish. It does not advise on a matter, predict how a court will rule, opine on whether a claim is viable, or address any individual’s health, diagnosis or treatment.

Scope the science before you commit to the matter.

Describe the exposure. We will triage it and connect you with the right expert — usually within one business day.

talk to an expert
AI Research ConciergeScope a matter or find an expert
Tell me about the exposure and I'll help scope it — what has to be established, what evidence would do it, and which specialist fits. I won't give a causation opinion, and nothing here is medical or legal advice.