Study: Illnesses Linked to Power Plants

[LancerGT@AOL.COM]

I wonder how many of these early deaths they attribute to nuclear power plant 

emissions? It apparently didn't even show up on their radar (how could it?).



Dave Lawrence

Montclair NJ











Study: Illnesses Linked to Power Plants



.c The Associated Press 



WASHINGTON (AP) - A consultant used by the Environmental Protection Agency 

said health problems linked to power plant pollution shortens nearly 24,000 

lives a year, including 2,800 from lung cancer.



The report by Cambridge, Mass.-based Abt Associates Inc., commissioned by 

environmental advocacy groups, found that 22,000 of those deaths are preventable 

with currently available technology. The report was released Wednesday.



It also found that people dying prematurely from problems associated with 

exposure to fine particle pollution, or soot, lost an average of 14 years.



Power plant pollution also is responsible for 38,200 nonfatal heart attacks 

each year, according to the study commissioned by groups including the National 

Environmental Trust, U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Clean Air Task 

Force.



The groups said the study shows that enforcing current law would result in 

4,000 fewer preventable deaths a year.



The study relied on computer modeling to compare EPA data on power plant 

emission levels and dispersal patterns with results of epidemiological studies by 

Harvard University in 1993 and the American Cancer Society in 1995, said 

Angela Ledford, who directs the groups' campaign on air pollution.



The data came from 2002 for soot - microscopic particles linked to asthma, 

heart disease and other health problems - along with acid rain-causing sulfur 

dioxide and smog-forming nitrogen oxides, Ledford said.



Scott Segal, who represents several major utilities, said the groups are 

obscuring that soot pollution from power plants dropped 75 percent from 1970 to 

1999, based on EPA and Energy Department figures, even as energy consumption 

increased 41 percent.



On the Net:



Clear the Air: http://www.cleartheair.org



EPA: http://www.epa.gov







06/09/04 11:34 EDT