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Americans get half their electricity from coal-fired power plants, and globally about 40% of carbon emissions worldwide are attributable to coal. As the planet continues to precipitously warm, coal’s effects on global warming are becoming more apparent. The coal industry is worried about federal legislation aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as about the upcoming international meeting in Copenhagen next month where further cuts are expected to be proposed. But the human reliance on coal has even more direct impacts to human health outside of global warming, according to a ground-breaking new report by Physicians for Social Responsibility. Every stage of coal from extraction to burning, impacts the human body, according to the report entitled “Coal’s Assault on Human Health.” The conclusions are shockingly clear: four of the top five causes of death in the US are due to coal, and coal also significantly increases the incidence of existing major diseases. The American Lung Association and the American Nurses Association collaborated on the study.

GUEST: Dr. Richard J. Jackson is Chair of Environmental Health Sciences School of Public Health at UCLA

For more information, visit www.psr.org.