Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson announced today that after several months of careful review the agency will deny 10 petitions calling for the agency to reconsider its determination that six greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.

The U.S. Senate defeated, 47 – 53, the Murkowski Dirty Air Act resolution, which would have tied the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) hands to control carbon pollution. By rejecting this resolution, the majority of the Senate voted to base U.S. climate policy on the burgeoning scientific evidence that climate change is underway, that human activity is a major driver of carbon pollution, and that urgent action is needed to protect human health and the environment.

PSR Board President Jeff Patterson, DO, carried a strong health message to the White House today about the need for action on climate change to protect the health of all Americans. Attending the President’s Earth Day reception, Dr. Patterson stated that “The health of Americans requires that we reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the safest, most immediate way possible.”

Physicians for Social Responsibility supports the “Safe Chemicals Act of 2010,” introduced last week by Senator Lautenberg and Congressmen Waxman and Rush. The long-awaited, landmark legislation would overhaul the way the federal government protects the public from toxic chemicals.

Early this morning, President Obama and President Medvedev signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The treaty marks a unique and historic moment as Russia and the United States signal to the world that progress is being made toward a world free of nuclear weapons.

Today, President Obama announced that he would meet President Medvedev in Prague to sign the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on April 8th, 2010. This treaty marks a unique and historic moment as Russia and the United States signal to the world that progress is being made toward a world free of nuclear weapons.

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.

PSR has been awarded a one year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to launch the Safe and Healthy Children Initiative; a pilot project which will address pediatric environmental health in migrant and seasonal farmworker children.

PSR Board Member Dr. Ira Helfand spoke at a teach-in to over 300 people, including members of the Vermont legislature, in Brattleboro, VT on February 21, 2010 to discuss the public health impacts of the Vermont Yankee reactor. The Vermont Yankee reactor which was voted down overwhelmingly (26-4) on February 24, 2010 by the Vermont Senate.

President Obama announced today that DOE will issue $8.3 billion in a 'conditional' loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors at the Vogtle site in Burke County, Georgia.

PSR testified before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently, urging the Agency to tighten the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, NAAQS, for ground-level ozone.

PSR applauds President Obama’s recommitment to reducing the threats to human life and health posed by nuclear weapons and climate change, while also expressing deep concern about his support for building new unsafe and polluting nuclear reactors and coal-fired power plants.

On December 10th, the Nobel Committee will be in Oslo to present President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. In attaching "special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons" the Committee has chosen to bring nuclear disarmament to the forefront of international attention. Obama, shortly after the Nobel Committee announced their decision, emphasized the significant work that lies ahead and said that this prize must be a "call to action" for real change to be brought about.

Physicians for Social Responsibility today released a groundbreaking medical report, “Coal’s Assault on Human Health,” which takes a new look at the devastating impacts of coal on the human body. By examining the impact of coal pollution on the major organ systems of the human body, the report concludes 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 already affecting large portions of the U.S. population.

As they did 24 years ago, when they awarded a group of physicians the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to stop the nuclear arms race, the Nobel Committee has once again used their power to leverage action on nuclear disarmament. In attaching "special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons" the Nobel Committee understands the significance of the transformational change that is necessary.

PSR in partnership with American Nurses Association (ANA) and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) released the “Hazardous Chemicals In Health Care” report today, detailing the first investigation ever of chemicals found in the bodies of health care professionals.

Teleconference to announce results of first-of-a-kind study to measure toxic chemicals used in health care in the bodies of Physicians and Nurses. The study was conducted as part of the PSR Hazardous Chemicals in Health Care Project.

Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) applauds Senators Kerry and Boxer for introducing the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.

PSR is working intensively to assure that the EPA’s power to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide from the biggest polluters is not stripped away.

More extremely hot summer days are projected for every part of the country, detailed in a new report from the National Wildlife Federation and Physicians for Social Responsibility.