The health costs of coal
Posted
by DPS
A new study has been announced to investigate the health impacts of coal mining and combustion, according to a report in the Newcastle Herald.
While the climate changing impacts of coal are well understood, the adverse health effects on the community from mining and burning the fossil fuel are not.
The University of Sydney’s Health and Sustainability Unit will investigate the direct, quantifiable harms as well as indirect and unquantifiable harms to health from mining in the Hunter Valley and Liverpool Plains regions.
The former will include assessment of the excess burden of respiratory disease, mental health disorders, cancer, injury and death; the latter will include impacts on social health and sense of community.
