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CENTER INFORMATION
The Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC), located in the Texas Medical Center, was authorized by the U.S. Congress in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, and incorporated in 1991.  It is named after the late Congressman Mickey Leland, whose efforts on behalf of public health contributed significantly to the passage of key amendments to the Clean Air Act.

The NUATRC is a research facility that has been specifically charged to sponsor and gather scientific information on the human health effects caused by exposure to air toxics.  By law, it is a non-profit corporation, financed by government and private funds.  To date, private sector gifts to the NUATRC have come primarily from corporations in the petroleum and chemical industries.

As established by law, the NUATRC is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors, and receives scientific guidance from a nationally-based thirteen-member Scientific Advisory Panel.

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MISSION
The mission of the NUATRC is to develop and support research which will yield a better understanding of the potential risks posed to human health by exposure to air toxics, as defined by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.  The Center's research program, developed collaboratively by scientific experts from academia, industry and government, seeks to fill the gaps in scientific data that are required to make sound environmental health public policy decisions.

Objectives:

• to study health effects in human populations exposed to air toxics;

• to develop new approaches and methods for assessing the potential risks resulting from exposures to air toxics;

• to provide sound, peer-reviewed scientific data for regulatory purposes

To meet these needs, the Center develops and directs a comprehensive research program in urban populations addressing the health effects of the 189 materials that Congress has identified as hazardous air pollutants.

The Center sponsors peer-reviewed research designed to assess and rank public-health risks associated with these materials.

These findings will help the federal government meet its mandates to:

• evaluate, by the end of the decade, the potential health risks of air toxics to human health

• promulgate, if necessary, future air-quality regulations and standards to reduce or prevent averse health effects caused by air toxics

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Board of Directors
The NUATRC is governed by an eight-member Board of Directors.  This Board includes noted health research scientists and administrators from major academic institutions, as well as key state and local government regulatory agencies.  Board members are selected based on their experience in the fields of public health, environmental pollution and medicine

Current Board Members

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Scientific Advisory Panel
In keeping with the Clean Air Act requirement, the Board of Directors establishes an eleven-member Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP).  The SAP is comprised of scientists from a number of disciplines, including exposure assessors, epidemiologists, respiratory physiologists, toxicologists and statisticians, drawn from government, academic, and private sector institutions.  The SAP advises the Board on the NUATRC's research program.

Current Scientific Advisory Panel Members

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FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Congress clearly stated, in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, its intent that both federal and private sector funds should be used to support the air toxics effort.

Since 1992, each year, the U.S. Congress has appropriated and issued, with the direction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, funds to assist in the support of the Center's research.  Other support for the NUATRC has derived from contributions made by corporate sponsors, primarily in the chemical and petroleum industries.

As the NUATRC moves toward implementing its mission and achieving its important goals, substantial additional public and private sector support will be needed.  More industrial firms, as well as Foundations and other sources will be asked to take part in the funding of the Center's complex research efforts.

A few past and present supporters are:

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