Mayor's Task Force on the Health Effects of Air Pollution
Early in 2005, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a special report on harmful levels of several chemicals present in East Harris County’s outdoor air. A few weeks later, the Houston Chronicle published a five-part series reporting on these and other toxic chemicals detected in communities located along the ship channel and near petrochemical plants. Shortly thereafter, Mayor Bill White and Dr. James Willerson discussed how the health expertise of the Texas Medical Center could best assist the City of Houston with its air pollution problems. Their plan was to form a Task Force of academic specialists that would identify the ambient air pollutants most likely to cause significant health risks for current and future residents of the Greater Houston area.
The Institute for Health Policy at the School of Public Health was charged by Dr. Willerson to organize, coordinate and staff this effort. Eight experts were selected for the Task Force from 5 institutions: 4 from our School of Public Health (Drs. Delclos, Linder, Sexton, and Stock) and one each from Rice University (Dr. Fraser), Baylor College of Medicine (Dr. Abramson), UT’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Dr. Bondy) and UTMB at Galveston (Dr. Ward). The Task Force began work last April, under the Direction of Ken Sexton, with financial support from Dr. Willerson, Dean Parcel and a private gift from Michael Zilkha.
The Task Force considered information on health effects and both modeled and measured estimates of exposure levels to assign 179 air pollutants to 1 of 5 risk categories, ranging from definite to unlikely. A dozen of these substances were judged to pose a definite risk to health; 9 more were viewed as probable risks, and 24 as possible risks. Sixteen substances were classified as unlikely risks. And the risks from 118 others were judged as uncertain. Finally, the distribution of these risks was found to be far from equal. The substances identified as definite risks were found in greater numbers in several East Houston neighborhoods, among those identified earlier in the Chronicle series.
The final Report was presented to Mayor White on June 12, 2006. The Mayor subsequently announced plans to use the priority rankings as guidance for new initiatives in air monitoring and pollution control. More about the results of the report can be found at "Air Pollution in Houston ".
Task Force Member's Biographical Statements
Task Force Contact Information 
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