PRESS RELEASES

June 12, 2006 -- Houston Mayor Bill White today reviewed the final report of the Task Force on Reducing Air Quality Health Risks, convened by James T. Willerson, M.D., president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. At the top of the list of dangerous compounds are ozone, particulate matter, 1,3-butadiene, and benzene, pollutants known to be highly prevalent in the Houston region and to pose significant health risks.

"We need to know the possible health effects from everything we put in our air so we can take action," said Mayor White. "Dr. Willerson and his team have given us a map to lay out our battle plan instead of waiting years for other studies that come too little too late."

The panel was asked to examine available data relating to outdoor air pollutants in the Houston area and to advise the mayor on the most severe problems from a human health perspective. The report ranks 182 pollutants in the following health risk categories: Definite Risk, Probable Risk, Possible Risk, Uncertain Risk, and Unlikely Risk. It also explains the data used in the study as well as the methodology employed to arrive at the rankings. The report is available on the City website at www.houstontx.gov/environment.

The Task Force, which began its work in April 2005, consists of public health and medical experts from some of the region's most prestigious research and medical institutions.

Members of the Task Force are:

• Task Force Chair Ken Sexton, Sc.D., a professor of environmental sciences at The University of Texas School of Public Health, Brownsville Regional Campus.
• Task Force Coordinator and Staff Director Stephen H. Linder, Ph.D., interim director of the Institute for Health Policy and currently an associate professor in three divisions at the UT School of Public Health -- Management, Policy and Community Health, Health Promotion and Behavioral Science, and Environmental and Occupational Health .
• Thomas H. Stock, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental sciences at the UT School of Public Health.
• George Delclos, M.D. , director of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, and director of the Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the UT Health Science Center at Houston.
• Melissa L. Bondy , Ph.D ., professor of epidemiology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention.
• Jonathan Ward, Jr., Ph.D., a professor and director of the Division of Environmental Toxicology in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, as well as deputy director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Toxicology Center, at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB).
• Stuart L. Abramson, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and immunology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, associate director for Clinical Research and Health Professional Education at the Children's Asthma Center at Texas Children's Hospital and director of the Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Clinic at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston.
• Matthew P. Frasier, Ph.D., an associate professor of engineering and member of the faculty of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Rice University.