Testimony from: 

Susan Buchanan, MD, MPH 

Clinical Asst. Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences 

University of Illinois School of Public Health 

Chicago, Illinois 

May 24, 2012 

Thank you for the opportunity to express my personal views about the EPA's 

Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants. I am here today representing 

Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Union of Concerned Scientists, 

groups whose missions include protecting the public from environmental health 

threats. 

I am a Family Physician with specialty training in Occupational and 

Environmental Medicine. In my role as a primary care provider I have diagnosed 

hundreds of patients with diseases that can be linked directly to air pollution and 

poor air quality in our city. As an Environmental Medicine specialist I follow the 

scientific literature on the health effects of climate change, and I recognize that 

research in the past decade has clearly shown that air quality affects human 

health to a much greater degree than we previously thought. 

Power plants are the largest source of carbon pollution in the US, which includes 

carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Scientists now overwhelmingly agree that the 

accumulation of greenhouse gases is causing climate change. Health effects that 

can be linked to climate change include asthma, coronary heart disease, heat 

stroke and deaths from heat waves, insect-borne infectious diseases, injuries 

and deaths from floods, and food shortages caused by drought. The health 

effects of climate change will likely be the biggest public health challenge of the 

21st century. 

I would like to review three potential health effects from climate change. 

Asthma -Air pollution triggers wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing, and 

is known to cause asthma attacks. In Cook County we are already suffering from 

an epidemic of asthma: over 300,000 adults and 100,000 children have been 

diagnosed with asthma, giving a prevalence of 13%, with some neighborhoods at 

44%. That means that in some areas of Chicago, 44 of every 100 residents are 

suffering from this chronic, potentially deadly disease, which has been directly 

linked to air pollution. Asthma exacerbations are one of the most common 

reasons for visiting primary care physicians and emergency rooms. Asthma 

fatalities are not uncommon and are likely to increase as our air quality worsens 

with climate change. 
Deaths due to heat waves- The US Centers for Disease Control reports that the 

heat wave in Europe in 2003 caused an excess of 35,000 deaths. Climate 

change models predict that heat waves, already on the rise, will become more 

frequent. 

Cancer- It is estimated that environmental factors account for approximately 

30% of cancers. According to the Centers for Disease Control, "one possible 

direct impact of climate change on cancer may be through increases in exposure 

to toxic chemicals that are known or suspected to cause cancer following heavy 

rainfall and by increased volatilization of chemicals under conditions of increased 

temperature. In the case of heavy rainfall or flooding, there may be an increase in 

leaching of toxic chemicals and heavy metals from storage sites and increased 

contamination of water with runoff containing persistent chemicals that are 

already in the environment." 

In summary, carbon emissions contribute to climate change. Climate change 

causes adverse health effects on humans that will likely increase in the future. 

Therefore, I strongly support the proposed Carbon Pollution Standard for New 

Power Plants. In addition, I urge the EPA to move swiftly to enact standards that 

cover existing power plants. 

It is essential to the health of our citizens that the US EPA take measures 

immediately to prevent air pollution and therefore reduce the effects of climate 

change.