National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) was founded in 1969. Its mission is to reduce the burden of disease caused by environmental factors through defining how environmental exposures affect human health and how individuals differ in their susceptibility to exposures. The focus of NIEHS is on disease prevention rather than on treatment, which tends to characterize the mission of the other Institutes within the National Institutes of Health.

NIEHS has its headquarters and intramural laboratories in North Carolina, in close proximity to research laboratories of the Environmental Protection Agency. The NIEHS extramural program funds individual competitive research grants and a variety of research centers throughout the United States. These include generalized Centers of Excellence as well as research centers focused on hazardous waste and on children's health and the environment. In recent years the NIEHS has extended its grants and centers program beyond basic laboratory science to a broader range of public health disciplines and activities, including K–12 programs, community outreach activities, and international environmental health. NIEHS also administers the National Toxicology Program (NTP) which, in concert with other federal agencies, evaluates the hazards of chemicals.

BERNARD D. GOLDSTEIN

(SEE ALSO: Environmental Determinants of Health; Environmental Impact Statement; Environmental Protection Agency; Exposure Assessment; National Institutes of Health; Toxic Substances Control Act; Toxicology)