Doctors, nurses weigh in: federal budget threatens our health

Environment America

As the U.S. Congress reaches its deadline to pass government spending bills, Environment America released a letter from hundreds of health professionals urging their representatives to oppose any attempts to cut funding or protections for our environment and health.

More than 300 doctors, nurses, and public health experts warned that:

“The proposed budgets set dramatically low levels of funding for several programs that protect our environment and our health.  These cuts and the harmful rollbacks to environmental protections will result in dirtier air and water, sicker families, and fewer protections for our public lands.”

In addition to detrimental funding cuts to the EPA including enforcement and clean water programs, the letter opposes several legislative provisions in current Congressional proposals that would:

• Delay life-saving smog standards for 10 years, preventing Americans from even having the right to know if the air they breathe is unhealthy and severely delaying cleanup steps,
• Remove protections for the drinking water sources for 1 in 3 Americans,
• Attack clean car standards that are already cutting pollution,
• Obstruct states’ ability to regulate industrial factory farms, endangering drinking water sources, and
• Undermine climate science and programs that would cut global warming pollution.

“We don’t want more kids getting sick from smog, sewage, and sludge.” said Morgan Folger with Environment America. “Americans need a budget that gets a clean bill of health from our most trusted experts.  300+ health professionals urge Congress to craft and support a budget that will lead us to a cleaner, greener, healthier future that is free of harmful anti-environmental provisions.”