HOUSTON -- A slew of local academicians recommended Wednesday that Houston immediately lower its levels of air pollutants because the level is currently toxic enough to cause deaths by cancer.

The 245-page report's authors -- who span the fields of environmental health, engineering and law -- said the screening levels being used by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are inadequate, and that enforceable air quality standards need to be adopted. The report also examined health consequences, and recommended pollution reduction strategies that other states and countries have implemented.

Texas has the highest level of air pollution in the country, and yet it only uses a guideline that is considered when issuing business permits, said Victor Flatt, an environmental law professor at the
University of Houston and one of the study's authors.

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