US Climate and Health Alliance

Multiple Threats to Child Health from Fossil Fuel Combustion: Impacts of Air Pollution and Climate Change

Abstract

Approaches to estimating and addressing the risk to children from fossil fuel combustion have been fragmented, tending to focus either on the toxic air emissions or on climate change. Yet developing children, and especially poor children, now bear a disproportionate burden of disease from both environmental pollution and climate change due to fossil fuel combustion. This commentary summarizes the robust scientific evidence regarding the multiple current and projected health impacts of fossil fuel combustion on the young to make the case for a holistic, child-centered energy and climate policy that addresses the full array of physical and psychosocial stressors resulting from fossil fuel pollution.

Resource Type
Peer-reviewed article
Author
Frederica P. Perera
Resource URL
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/ehp299/#tab2
Publication
Environ Health Perspectives
Journal Abbr.
Environ. Health Perspect.
Date
May 2016
DOI
10.1289/EHP299
Organization Type
Academic
Health and Human Impact
Respiratory disease
Climate and Environmental Impact
Air pollution
Emission Sources
Conventional energy Energy Conventional
Other
Vulnerable populations

Resources main page