Barbara Gottlieb, deputy director of the Environmental Health Program for Physicians for Social Responsibility, says coal ash contains 19 harmful heavy metals, including arsenic, lead and mercury. "And these substances, if they're eaten or drunk or inhaled, can cause cancer. They can cause nervous system impacts such as cognitive deficits and developmental delays. They affect virtually every major organ system in the human body."

According to “Coal’s Assault on Human Health,” a report by Physicians for Social Responsibility, coal pollutants have been linked to four of the five leading causes of death in our nation, including cancer, stroke, heart disease and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

Hundreds of concerned citizens gathered in Chicago today urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pass strong, federally-enforceable safeguards for coal ash, the toxic remains left over from coal-fired power plants. Citizens traveled to Chicago from across Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana to testify about the harmful effects of coal ash on their health, neighborhoods and communities. The hearing is one of seven the EPA is holding this month on its proposal to finally regulate toxic coal ash.

Yesterday Earthjustice and Physicians for Social Responsibility released a detailed report entitled Coal Ash: The Toxic Threat to Our Health and Environment. The Kansas City region has some seven or eight coal ash disposal sites. Coal ash is toxic.

An organization of doctors joined an environmental group Thursday to encourage the EPA to adopt tougher regulations for coal ash waste, which they say is toxic. The 1.2 billion-gallon spill of wet coal ash from a breached dam near Kingston, Tenn., just before Christmas 2008 received national attention, but it didn't reveal the full dimensions of the health threats from coal ash waste, according to Dr. Peter Wilk, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

An organization of doctors and other health professionals joined with environmentalists to release a report today detailing concerns that the leakage of toxic substances including arsenic from coal ash ponds and landfills is contaminating underground aquifers and drinking water supplies and endangering human health across the country.

An organization of doctors and other health professionals joined with environmentalists to release a report today detailing concerns that the leakage of toxic substances including arsenic from coal ash ponds and landfills is contaminating underground aquifers and drinking water supplies and endangering human health across the country.

PSR member Dr. Karen Lewis spoke in support of labeling coal ash as hazardous waste at an EPA hearing in Dallas this week.

PSR testified recently before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the health risks associated with coal ash, at the first of seven EPA hearings on disposal of this dangerous coal combustion waste product.

Oregon PSR President Dr. Catherine Thomasson explains the dangers of coal ash.

Coal ash, the residue left over after coal is burned, contains some of the world’s deadliest toxics: arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, selenium and others. PSR urges its members to submit comments to the Environmental Protection Agency, insisting on strict federal regulation of coal ash disposal sites that now leak deadly toxics into the environment and drinking water.

Dr. Steven Gilbert of Washington PSR discusses the health effects of mercury emissions from coal plants.

An opinion piece on a Colorado coal plant cites PSR's recent "Coal's Assault on America's Health" report.

The Physicians for Social Responsibility recently found that coal "contributes to four of the top five causes of mortality in the U.S. and is responsible for increasing the incidence of major diseases."

The fight to stop coal brings together the health impacts with the environmental damage to create a serious environmental justice issue. See a profile of that movement in this new article from The Nation.

It's deadly, it’s America's second-biggest river of industrial waste, and it’s barely regulated. Read Jeff Goodell, noted author of Big Coal, on coal ash.

Kristen Welker-Hood, Environment & Health Program Director for PSR, spoke out against a proposed coal plant in Virginia.

Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune references PSR's recent report "Coal's Assault on Human Health" when describing his organization's goal of shutting down coal power.

PSR met recently with the Office of Management and Budget to urge it to review and release a proposed EPA rule that would tighten up the handling of toxic coal ash.

An op-ed by Western North Carolina PSR member Richard Fireman, MD on the dangers of coal ash.