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 (Title III, Sec. 112(p)), 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.
 

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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Current Scientific Advisory Panel Members

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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 come from contributions made by corporate sponsors, other non profits, as well as other government agencies.

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.

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