26 Million People Already Need Help to Breathe

In this mention

A public health advocacy piece highlighting that 26 million Americans have suffered from asthma and linking air pollution to asthma incidence. The article calls on Congress to pass legislation establishing a nationwide health tracking network and commits resources to public health infrastructure. Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is listed among endorsing organizations.

Original clipping

PDF didn't open? Open it in a new tab →

26 Million People Already Need Help to Breathe

Health Tracking Can Prevent The Number From Growing

Twenty-six million Americans have suffered from asthma in their lifetime. And now there's new evidence linking air pollution with asthma.

Congress can help us fight this epidemic by passing legislation (S2054/HR4061) that establishes a nationwide health tracking network to tell us where asthma and other chronic diseases are striking and their potential links to environmental factors.

To fully protect Americans, Congress and the Administration must commit more resources to the fundamentals of a stronger public health system:

tracking of diseases and monitoring of environmental exposures,
more and better-trained public health professionals,
a state-of-the-art early warning and communications network, and
better-equipped laboratories.

We cannot afford to do less.