| NEWS Environmental health
and children Appalachian Ministry Network
712 West Church Street
P. O. Box 2231
Hagerstown, MD 21741-2231
General Board of Church and Society
John S. Hill, Program Director Environmental Justice
100 Maryland Ave., N.E.
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 488-5654
Action Alert on the Clean Power Act of 2003, Senate Bill 366
www.umc-gbcs.org
Clear the Air
1200 18th St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 887-1715
i
Clean Air Task Force
Bruce Hill
(603) 383-6400
www.savethecleanairact.org
/public/ | Children at great risk from environmental threats BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF Childhood disease in Appalachia is on the increase due to air and water pollution, lead poisoning, pesticides, tobacco smoke and other culprits. A seminar on these environmental threats was held recently in Washington, D.C. About 15 members of the Appalachian Ministry Network from several states attended the seminar Sept. 18, at the General Board of Church and Society offices in Washington, D.C. They were greeted by the onslaught of Hurricane Isabels winds and rain and by closed federal agencies and offices, which prohibited them from visiting their legislators as planned. The network includes representatives from 23 annual conferences in states stretching from southern New  York to Mississippi. Baltimore-Washington Conference participants included Sharon Leatherman, executive coordinator of the network, Betty Wilson, a member of United Methodist Women, and Gerald Palm, a member of United Methodist Men. The group discussed the rise in diseases among millions of children who live in unhealthy environments. Members learned that: cancer is the number two cause of death in children, ages 1-19; childhood asthma is the number one cause of absenteeism in schools; and defects caused by mercury affect babies born to one in 10 women. Meanwhile, 12 million children are affected by pollution-related learning disabilities. Rabbi Daniel Swartz of the Childrens Environmental Health Network outlined principles underlying environmental issues that threaten childrens health, which he called a fundamental concern to religious people. He recalled that Methodisms founder, John Wesley, preached about clean water, a major, global concern for childrens health. The rabbi said adults must recognize that because children consume more water, food and air than adults in proportion to their body weight, they are more susceptible to pollution and toxins. Pamela Sparr, consultant for Church and Societys Project REACH (Religion, Environment and Childrens Health), defined the projects scope as understanding the connection between environment and childrens health. She listed environmental threats to childrens health including lead, air pollution, and pesticides. The group discussed the difficulty of getting churches and communities to understand the importance of environmental issues on childrens health. Angela Ledford, Director of Clear the Air, the National Campaign Against Dirty Power, briefed the group on an aspect of the unhealthy environment, pollution from coal-fired power plants. The emissions from these power plants, which provide 56 percent of the energy used in the United States, include four major damaging pollutants: sulfur dioxide, the key component of acid rain which emits particles that lodge deeply in the lungs; nitrogen dioxide, the dangerous ingredient in smog that prompts high-ozone alerts; mercury, which causes birth defects; and carbon dioxide, the major element in global warming. Ledford criticized legislation proposed by President Bush that would allow industries to increase their emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and mercury beyond limits currently imposed by the Clean Air Act if the act were fully implemented. She also cited Bush administration claims that imposing limits on carbon dioxide emissions would be too expensive for coal companies and might lead to the elimination of coal as a source of electricity. There is no intention of limiting coal as a source of power generation, Ledford said, and coal-fired plants have a number of options for cleaning up the process. However, in the administrations proposed plan, more than 540 power plants are grandfathered in and do not have to clean up their processing and emissions at all, Ledford said. Thirty-five million children live within 30 miles of one or more power plants. In short, the administrations air pollution plan would be a huge setback for our childrens health. We cannot afford to leave a generation of children behind, said the task force briefing. The issue of the coal-fired power plants is a difficult one in Appalachia where much of the traditional way of life and jobs is already threatened by the decline in the coal-mining industry, according to Leatherman. There is a lot of tension in the cycle of coal mining processing environmental impact and jobs (economy), she said. We almost cant talk about it in Appalachia. |
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