Clean Power Plan can make difference with asthma

May is a lovely time of year to enjoy time outdoors, but physicians and those with respiratory disease know that it is also the beginning of ozone season, when we have to be especially alert about possible health consequences from exposure to elevated levels of this dangerous pollutant. May is also Asthma Awareness Month, when it is imperative that we highlight the critical link between the air we breathe and our health in order to improve both. This is where policy comes into play, and where the Clean Power Plan can make a real difference for public health in Pennsylvania and nationally.

Since increased temperatures contribute to formation of ozone in the atmosphere, climate change is making it more difficult to clean up air pollution. Carbon pollution from power plants is a driving force of climate change, and we need to reduce these emissions in order to prevent the worst impacts that lie ahead if we fail to act.

In fact, the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s recently issued “Climate and Health Assessment” is a stark and clear report confirming that the effects of climate change are already happening and that worsened air quality is a serious concern for all individuals, not just those with asthma. Ozone pollution can trigger asthma attacks and is also linked to premature death. Particle pollution causes premature death, lung cancer, asthma attacks, and heart attacks.

The goal of the Clean Power Plan is to tackle climate change pollution to improve air quality and protect public health, which is why it has been promulgated as part of the Clean Air Act. The American Lung Association’s annual “State of the Air” report released in late April found that air quality in the United States is continuing to improve overall, but cautioned that more than half of Americans are still breathing unhealthy air. If we are serious about making strides for better air quality, we must act on climate change.

In my community, we are directly experiencing the health effects of air pollution. As an internal medicine physician who has practiced for nearly 26 years, I am deeply concerned by the increases in asthma attacks, symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and heart attacks that I am seeing in the Philadelphia suburbs. Patients and families can work with physicians to manage asthma, but better air quality is an essential element of protecting their health.

Poor air quality affecting health is also an issue of environmental justice. Low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately impacted by air pollution and climate change for multiple reasons.

One reason is that low-income communities and urban communities of color already face elevated rates of asthma, diabetes and chronic cardiovascular disease, which are all known risk factors that lead to increased emergency room visits, hospitalizations and even death when combined with poor air quality.

The second reason is that these communities may live closer to the sources of pollution, including near major highways, power plants or factories. A stunning sixty-eight percent of African-Americans live within thirty miles of a coal plant, which produce particle pollution, gases that form ozone, and carbon pollution. Living close to such pollution sources substantially increases the likelihood of serious health complications related to heart and respiratory diseases.

A landmark survey conducted by the National Medical Association found that the large majority of African-American physicians, including myself, are seeing a sharp increase in patients from minority and low-income communities with climate-related health problems.

We must protect public health by supporting the full implementation of the Clean Air Act, which has already resulted in measurable improvements in air quality over the past several decades. We also need to support the Clean Power Plan, the first federal plan to curb dangerous carbon pollution from power plants. Governor Wolf has committed to developing a state plan for Pennsylvania under the Clean Power Plan, which our legislature should support in moving forward without delay.

In addition to being a physician, I am also an ordained minister. You don’t have to be a pastor to understand that cleaning up our air is a moral imperative. You just have to care about our children, our vulnerable populations, and our future. I hope we all do.

Rev. Dr. Miriam J. Burnett is an internal medicine physician and is presently serving as Medical Director of the Connectional (International) Health Commission of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and as Pastor of New Bethel AME Church in Willow Grove, PA.