• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News Environment

Closing down coal and oil-fired power stations ‘leads to healthier babies’

Study shows closing coal and oil-fired power plants lowers the rate of premature births in neighbouring communities - as well as improving fertility

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
May 22, 2018
in Environment, Health, News

 

Shutting down coal and oil-fired power stations leads to healthier babies, according to new research.

Closing the polluting power plants lowers the rate of premature births in neighbouring communities as well as improving fertility.

US researchers compared preterm births and fertility before and after eight power stations in California closed between 2001 and 2011, including San Francisco’s Hunters Point plant in 2006.

Overall, the percentage of preterm births – babies born before 37 weeks of gestation – dropped from seven per cent during a year-long period before plant closure to 5.1 per cent for the year after shutdown.

The 20 to 25 per cent drop in premature birthrates was larger than expected, but consistent with other studies linking birth problems to air pollution around power plants, according to the findings published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Another paper, published in the journal Environmental Health, used similar data and found that fertility – the number of live births per 1,000 women – increased around coal and oil power plants after closure.

RelatedPosts

More Cronyism? PR firm with Tory links provides test and trace ‘reputation management’

Jonah Hill posts perfect response to Daily Mail article as he hits out at body shamers

Brazilian Covid arrives in UK as PM claims we have ‘very tough regime’ at borders

‘Lawlessness and disorder’ – around half of UK police stations closed in past decade

Lead author of the first study, postdoctoral fellow Dr Joan Casey, of University of California, Berkeley, said: “We were excited to do a good news story in environmental health.

“Most people look at air pollution and adverse health outcomes, but this is the flip side.

“We said, let’s look at what happens when we have this external shock that removes air pollution from a community and see if we can see any improvements in health.”

She said the findings could help policy makers more strategically plan the decommissioning of power plants as they build more renewable sources of energy, in order to have the biggest health impact.

Co-author Professor Rachel Morello-Frosch, also of University of California, Berkeley, said: “We believe that these papers have important implications for understanding the potential short-term community health benefits of climate and energy policy shifts and provide some very good news on that front.

“These studies indicate short-term beneficial impacts on preterm birth rates overall and particularly for women of colour.”

The researchers compared preterm birth rates in the first year following the closure date of each power station with the rate during the year starting two years before the plant’s retirement, so as to eliminate seasonal effects on preterm births.

Dividing the surrounding region into three concentric rings three miles wide, Dr Casey delved into state birth records to determine the rate of preterm births in each ring.

Those living in the closest ring, within three miles of the plant, saw the largest improvement: a drop from seven to 5.1 per cent.

But people living in the next nearest zone showed less improvement.

The researchers also considered the effects of winds on preterm birth rates, and though downwind areas seemed to exhibit greater improvements, the differences were not statistically significant.

As a control, they replicated their analysis around eight power stations that had not closed, and found no before-versus-after difference, which supported the results of their main analysis.

There did not appear to be any effect on births before 32 weeks, which Dr Casey said may reflect the fact that very early births are a result of problems, genetic or environmental, more serious than air pollution.

She added: “It would be good to look at this relationship in other states and see if we can apply a similar rationale to retirement of power plants in other places.”

Dr Pauline Mendola, of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said of the findings: “Perhaps it’s time for the health of our children to be the impetus behind reducing the common sources of ambient air pollution.

“Their lives depend on it.”

 

Revealed: the tangled web between fossil industry and government

 

 

Shocking images show McDonald’s balloons washed up on European coastlines at a rate of nearly one a day

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Tags: headline
Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The Other Prison Pandemic

Latest from TLE

Glasgow Film Festival 2021

Set For Life Results Monday 1st March 2021

Influencer tries to blag a free meal – ends up at police station

More Cronyism? PR firm with Tory links provides test and trace ‘reputation management’

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.