Children’s health expert calls for urgent action to reduce burning of fossil fuels
In a strongly worded commentary and opinion piece, both published this week, Columbia University professor and researcher Frederica Perera discussed the health toll on children from air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, including diesel, and emphasized the “strong moral imperative to protect our most vulnerable populations,” and the need for urgent action to reduce their use.
“Every day that we refuse to act compounds these problems. Inaction perpetuates the health damage from toxic air pollutants and delays and reduces our ability to thwart the increasingly severe consequences of climate change. And it carries long-term consequences for each and every new child conceived…Children in low-income communities in the US, as well as globally, suffer most due to disproportionately high exposures to polluting sources, which are more likely to be built in or near the neighborhoods in which they live.”
Read the commentary and opinion piece, and more news about them, at the links below.