Exposure to Coal Lowers IQ in Newborns
by Susan Kraemer in Carbon/ GHG Reduction
When my friends across the border are astonished at the sheer stupidity that dominates American politics and national discourse – and exclaim “Is there something in the water over there?” they might be on to something. It turns out, there actually is something in the water over here affecting us. And in the air. It’s coal.
Physicians for Social Responsibility released a groundbreaking medical report, Coal’s Assault on Human Health (pdf), which takes a new look at the devastating impacts of coal on the national health.
Researchers estimate that every year another half million children are born in the U.S. with blood mercury levels high enough to reduce IQ scores and cause lifelong loss of intelligence.
Coal pollutants act on the nervous system to cause loss of intellectual capacity, primarily through mercury. This is costly to society. The report estimates that this costs the nation up to $43.8 billion annually in remedial education and lost lifetime income.
“The findings of this report are clear: while the U.S. relies heavily on coal for its energy needs, the consequences of that reliance for our health are grave,” says one of the principal report’s principal authors; Dr. Alan H. Lockwood, a professor of neurology at the University at Buffalo.
Not only does coal make our health a drain on our own nation’s economy, but it also isn’t helping us be as smart as we need to be to help the rest of the world take on the huge global challenges of even surviving the next few centuries; due to catastrophic climate change.
It also increases the incidence of major diseases. Coal contributes to four of the top five causes of mortality in the U.S. and our most costly chronic illnesses: our asthma, our diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimers, and stroke.
So when we Americans continue to vote for politicians who reduce our educational funding and vote for politicians who filibuster globally accepted climate change legislation – - and we even mount protests against getting non-profit health care that is in our own best interest – - don’t blame us.
It’s not us, it’s the coal we’ve been breathing. We are fossil fools.
Source: Physicians for Social Responsibility
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Posted on Dec 09, 2009
coal, health effects, intelligence, IQ levels, mercury, Physicians for Social Responsibility
About the Author
Susan Kraemer
Susan Kraemer is a transplanted Kiwi retired from three design businesses she started from humble beginnings in N.Y.C. and California, who now lives in the Bay Area. She enjoys living in a gorgeous but big passive-solar house her husband designed and built 15 years ago overlooking the San Francisco Bay up in the East Bay Hills, but now they are thinking of something different with their kids gone from the nest. She writes about climate change to publicize the many great solutions we can find if we just put our minds to it.17 Responses to “Exposure to Coal Lowers IQ in Newborns”
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[...] long term effects on climate. Coal has been implicated in asthma, diabetes, heart disease and even neurological damage, reducing intelligence levels. North Dakota ranks 8th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 3,419 tons of toxic [...]
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[...] long term effects on climate. Coal has been implicated in asthma, diabetes, heart disease and even neurological damage, reducing intelligence levels. North Dakota ranks 8th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 3,419 tons of toxic [...]
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[...] long term effects on climate. Coal has been implicated in asthma, diabetes, heart disease and even neurological damage, reducing intelligence levels. North Dakota ranks 8th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 3,419 tons of toxic [...]
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Adam Shake
Dec 09, 2009
A recent report also found out that 100% of thousands of fish tested in over 200 rivers and streams in the United States, contained mercury from coal burning power plants. That’s not a typo. 100%
Scott
Dec 10, 2009
Great article! Thanks!
Johnny Rockett
Dec 10, 2009
Wow, thats pretty scary dude!
Jess
Matt
Dec 10, 2009
‘The report estimates that this costs the nation up to $43.8 billion annually in remedial education and lost lifetime income.’ – Do you need to stick a dollar sign on it to know that it’s bad?
Larry Nathan
Dec 10, 2009
Your link at the bottom doesn’t work. Is this where you were trying to point: http://www.psr.org/news-events/press-releases/coal-pollution-damages-human-health.html
Tim
Dec 10, 2009
How does coal contribute to diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and stroke.
“Coal contributes to four of the top five causes of mortality in the U.S. and our most costly chronic illnesses: our asthma, our diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimers, and stroke.”
e cigarettes
Dec 10, 2009
Thanks fox for keeping us infromed!!!? LOL!
lovebelve
Dec 10, 2009
thats why i stick with belvedere – much safer option
Ryan
Dec 10, 2009
It contributes to those diseases through the mercury, it’s toxic to all of our tissues. It can lead to deterioration of brain cells, it can damage the heart, etc… Asthma is pretty clear as well. It also contributes to many other diseases, it just compounds the diseases we are already prone to because of our generally unhealthy lifestyles.
Pablo G
Dec 11, 2009
Thanks for posting this. I just wish that their report had been peer-reviewed, rather than just being released as a white paper.
Susan Kraemer
Dec 20, 2009
Thanks, Larry for keeping me informed: I will fix that link!
electronic cigarette
Jan 06, 2010
It is not that far fetched that pollution of any kind could have an affect on intelligence. We know that it causes deformities in wild life and that smoking women have low birth weight babies. So why should it be surprising that coal could be bad for us?
william leech
Jan 10, 2010
B/S, as usual.
I was born and raised in a coal mining coal burning town in North East England and joined Mensa when I was 21, with an IQ of 163
The world is becoming overpopulated with statistically oriented experts in every sphere of life, looking for anything new that they can suggest which may bring Government funds to keep them going.
shopalu
Mar 07, 2010
Wow…just simply wow, lol.