A recent American Lung Association report proposes that widespread adoption of zero-emission vehicles and transition to electricity-based energy sources could substantially improve nationwide children’s health, potentially saving hundreds of infant lives by 2050.
According to the findings released on Wednesday, this transition to cleaner transportation and energy would also avert an estimated 2.79 million pediatric asthma attacks and numerous other respiratory ailments over the next twenty-five years.
The anticipated health advantages are dependent upon some essential measures, one of which is the demand that all new passenger vehicles must be zero-emission by the year 2035, followed by a mandate of the same nature for all new trucks five years later.
In addition, the research projects that by the year 2035, the nation’s electric system will be powered solely by renewable energy sources that do not involve combustion.
Impact of Electric Vehicles on Child Health
The anticipated impacts from the year 2020 to 2050 also encompass the prevention of approximately 147,000 cases of pediatric acute bronchitis, 2.67 million instances of pediatric upper respiratory symptoms, 1.87 million cases of pediatric lower respiratory symptoms, and 508 infant mortality cases, as per the study’s estimates.
Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the lung disease prevention group, stated in a news release, “As families across the country have experienced in recent months, climate change increases air pollution, extreme weather, flooding events, allergens, as well as heat and drought, leading to greater risk of wildfires.” He emphasized, “Kids are more vulnerable to the impacts.”
Recent research indicates that despite decades of progress attributed to regulations such as the Clean Air Act of 1970, which imposed restrictions on pollutants emitted by factories and vehicles, the country has witnessed a resurgence in poor air quality associated with global warming.
According to findings by the First Street Foundation, approximately one-quarter of Americans are currently exposed to air quality categorized as “unhealthy” by the Air Quality Index.
The foundation, which assesses climate risks, suggests that this figure could escalate from 83 million to 125 million Americans within the coming decades.
