Health Care Without Harm has joined nine other leading health and medical organizations in opposing the EPA proposal to roll back the cleaner car standards. The proposal would endanger public health by increasing toxic pollution from vehicle tailpipes as well as carbon emissions that are fueling climate change. With transportation now surpassing the energy sector as the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, the cleaner car standards are critical to averting the worst health impacts of a changing climate.

“As an emergency room physician and a mother of a child with asthma, I strongly oppose the EPA’s proposal to roll back cleaner car standards,” said Dr. Amy Collins, Health Care Without Harm senior clinical advisor. “It it especially alarming that the proposal would prevent states from limiting tailpipe pollution to protect the health of their residents. Rolling back these standards will result in more ER visits and hospitalizations from toxic air pollution and worsening health impacts of climate change. I urge the EPA to honor their responsibility to protect health and maintain the cleaner car standards. It is a matter of survival for my patients and for millions of Americans."

Health Care Without Harm plans to participate in the rulemaking process and will urge the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration not to weaken fair and safe vehicle pollution limits that have proven successful in reducing pollution in the air we breathe.