Towards a fuller assessment of benefits to children's health of reducing air pollution and mitigating climate change due to fossil fuel combustion

Perera, Frederica P.; Ashrafi, Adiba; Kinney, Patrick L.; Mills, David

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2018.12.016

Cited by 130 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…92,93 Furthermore, air pollution exposure impairs lung growth and reduces lung function; 92 increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, 94 obesity, 95 type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome; 96 slows brain maturation; and impairs growth in cognitive function in schoolchildren. 97,98 Emerging evidence also suggests statistically significant effects of air pollution on intelligence quotient (IQ); 99 one study reports a fourpoint drop in IQ by the age of 5years in a sample of children exposed to polluted air in utero. 100 Reducing air pollu tion can quickly improve children's health: for example, effective reduction of air pollutants in Southern California through legislation resulted in increased lung function growth and reduced respiratory symptoms in children.…”

Section: All Sectors Are Responsible For Children's Wellbeingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A future for the world's children? A WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commission

Clark¹,

Coll-Seck

Banerjee³

et al. 2020

The Lancet

735

597

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Despite dramatic improvements in survival, nutrition, and education over recent decades, today's children face an uncertain future. Climate change, ecological degradation, migrating populations, conflict, pervasive inequalities, and predatory commercial practices threaten the health and future of children in every country. In 2015, the world's countries agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet nearly 5 years later, few countries have recorded much progress towards achieving them. This Commission presents the case for placing children, aged 0-18 years, at the centre of the SDGs: at the heart of the concept of sustainability and our shared human endeavour. Governments must harness coalitions across sectors to overcome ecological and commercial pressures to ensure children receive their rights and entitlements now and a liveable planet in the years to come.

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Section: All Sectors Are Responsible For Children's Wellbeingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A future for the world's children? A WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commission

Clark¹,

Coll-Seck

Banerjee³

et al. 2020

The Lancet

735

597

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The presence of multiple methylated CpG sites in CpG islands of promoters often causes stable silencing of genes, 71 although this gene silencing can also be initiated by other mechanisms. 71 The placental also serves as a sensor and transducer of environmental signals, such as prenatal exposure to tobacco, [72][73][74][75] air pollution, [76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90] and environmental pollutants, [91][92][93][94] which have been tied to both neonatal morbidities and perinatal inflammation. Important questions remain in relation to the role of specific biological pathways in the placenta that when perturbed can lead to child health or disease.…”

Section: Mechanism 2: Disrupted Placental Programming and Neurodevelomentioning

confidence: 99%

Placental programming, perinatal inflammation, and neurodevelopment impairment among those born extremely preterm

et al. 2020

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“…Although RGGI is focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it also reduces emissions of other pollutants, such as PM 2:5 , nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) (Manion et al 2017). NO x and SO 2 react in the atmosphere to form PM 2:5 , which has a well-documented relationship with multiple adverse health outcomes, including respiratory and cardiovascular effects, premature mortality, and, more recently, adverse birth outcomes, respiratory illness, and neurodevelopmental problems in children (Perera et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meta-analyses for additional health end points associated with PM 2:5 identified byPerera et al (2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-Benefits to Children’s Health of the U.S. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Perera

Cooley

Berberian

et al. 2020

Environ Health Perspect

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BACKGROUND: While various policies have been implemented globally to mitigate climate change and reduce exposure to toxic air pollutants, policy assessments have considered few if any of the benefits to children. OBJECTIVE: To comprehensively assess the co-benefits of climate change mitigation to children, we expanded the suite of adverse health outcomes in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) to include additional outcomes associated with prenatal and childhood exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM 2:5). We applied this newly expanded program to an assessment of the U.S. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the United States' first regional market-based regulatory program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector within the Northeast. METHODS: We used calculated changes in ambient PM 2:5 concentrations for the period 2009-2014, with newly incorporated concentration-response (C-R) functions to quantify changes in the incidence of preterm birth (PTB), term low birth weight (TLBW), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and asthma. These outcomes are causally or likely to be causally related to PM 2:5 exposure. Cost per case estimates were incorporated to monetize those changes in incidence. RESULTS: The estimated avoided cases of adverse child health outcomes included 537 asthma cases, 112 preterm births, 98 cases of ASD, and 56 cases of TLBW, with an associated avoided cost estimate ranging from $191 to $350 million. In a previous analysis of health benefits of RGGI, the only benefits accruing to children were limited to prevented cases of infant mortality and respiratory illnesses, with a monetized impact of $8.1 million-only 2-4% of the new results attributable to RGGI. CONCLUSION: The results of this innovative analysis indicate that RGGI has provided substantial child health benefits beyond those initially considered. Moreover, those health benefits had significant estimated economic value.

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Towards a fuller assessment of benefits to children's health of reducing air pollution and mitigating climate change due to fossil fuel combustion

Cited by 130 publications

References 99 publications

A future for the world's children? A WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commission

A future for the world's children? A WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commission

Placental programming, perinatal inflammation, and neurodevelopment impairment among those born extremely preterm

Co-Benefits to Children’s Health of the U.S. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

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