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Frederica Perera Cites Children's Health as Critical Reason for Senate to Pass Energy Bill
On December 6, Newsday, a regional newspaper of Long Island, NY, published an editorial by Frederica Perera, DrPH, professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH), on a critical, though often overlooked, reason for Congress to enact stronger energy and climate control legislation: children's health.
According to Dr. Perera, who with her Columbia colleagues has been studying more than 500 mother-child pairs since 1997, America is raising a generation of children that is growing up less healthy than earlier generations because of increased exposure to environmental toxicants.
Says Dr. Perera, "Approximately 40 percent of the children we are following were born with DNA damage associated with air pollutants produced principally by fuel burning from cars, trucks, buses, power plants, industry, incinerators, and residential heating. Babies with high prenatal exposure had reduced birth weight and head circumference and significantly lower scores on tests for cognitive development and were more likely to be developmentally delayed." Further, such genetic alterations have been tied to an increased risk of cancer in both children and adults.
Reducing global warming, decreasing dependence on foreign oil, and investing in clean energy alternatives are excellent reasons to set limits on carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. Dr. Perera argues, however, that "an equally critical reason for Congress to pass legislation is to safeguard the long-term health of America's children."
For more information on the Mothers & Children Study and other CCCEH programs, please visit their website at http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/ccceh/index.html.
Editor's Note: On December 14, the Senate passed the Lieberman-Warner bill, which sets limits on carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. The Energy Bill has passed the House and the Senate and is now headed to the President's desk. This bill takes the first step toward better fuels and better cars.
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