Earthjustice staffer Jessica Knoblauch speaks with PSR board member Dr. Alan Lockwood, a physician and author of the new book, The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health.

"The governor has gotten the message and she has taken a step," said Dr. Mike McCally of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

PSR board member and senior scientist Alan Lockwood, MD FAAN, spoke recently at Michigan’s Green Healthcare Conference as part of PSR’s “Health Voices for Clean Air” fall campaign.

A November 2009 report by Physicians for Social Responsibility said the health consequences of coal "are multiple and have widespread and damaging impact."

A coalition of consumer groups including PSR is recommending the U.S. Department of Agriculture get tuna out of school lunchrooms after tests of canned tuna sold to schools found highly variable levels of mercury, in some cases higher than federal guidelines.

Some children may be at greater risk from mercury in tuna than previously thought, finds a new study by the Mercury Policy Project.

Wisconsin Environmental Health Network's (WEHN) Dr. Elizabeth Neary, a pediatrician, says arsenic can harm babies who are still growing.

Fortunately, a popular movement to minimize climate change is beginning (for example, see 350.org or Physicians for Social Responsibility), and government has taken some steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

In an excerpt from The Silent Epidemic, neurologist and PSR board member Alan H. Lockwood examines how even if the entire cost of complying with the Clean Air Act were assumed by the federal government, we would still be vastly ahead financially.

According to Regna Merritt of Oregon Physicians of Social Responsibility, coal creates a substantial number of health risks, from the exposure to people working in coal mines, to the coal dust and diesel emitted along transportation routes, to the air pollution caused by burning the fossil fuel itself.

Chicago Physicians for Responsibility Executive Director Dr. Sarah Lovinger warned that the potential health implications for residents should not be overshadowed because of economic concerns.

PSR is among the groups that have been pushing Johnson & Johnson to remove toxic chemicals from its products.

Catherine Thomasson, MD, PSR’s executive director, addressed thousands of people rallying at the U.S. Capitol on July 28 to protest pollution and climate change caused by “fracking.”

Abby Wear, executive director of the New Mexico chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said coal particulates are linked to cardiac and respiratory disease. "Coal is an assault on our health," Wear said.

PSR recruited 17 distinguished physicians to sign a letter to the World Bank urging it not to finance construction of a new coal-fired power plant in Kosovo.

PSR’s executive director will be a featured speaker at the first nationwide demonstration to protest the use of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in natural gas and oil extraction.

PSR chapters on both coasts testified before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently, calling for stricter national air quality standards on toxic particulate matter air pollution.

An op-ed from PSR Sacramento President Dr. Harry Wang.

PSR-affiliated physicians joined with distinguished colleagues from several nations to urge the World Bank to reconsider financing a lignite coal-fired power plant proposed to be built in Kosovo.

Dr. Maureen McCue, coordinator for the Iowa Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said moving to more sustainable energy sources would better the health of Iowans.