[Wamvan] Fwd: Making Asthma Cool: Not Coal Industry Priority After All

[Tami Starlight]

Date: Tue, May 10, 2011 at 11:11 AM
Subject: Making Asthma Cool: Not Coal Industry Priority After All
To: "tamistarlight-gmail.com" <tamistarlight at gmail.com>


 May 10, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

*Tackling Childhood Asthma Not Coal Industry Priority After All*
No more My Little Pony inhalers <http://coalcares.org/freeinhalers.html> in
stock

Contact: asthma at coalcares.org, (314) 472-5539

A charitable initiative <http://coalcares.org/about.html> by the world's
largest coal company to provide free “novelty-themed” inhalers to asthmatic
children may have seemed for a moment like a (somewhat misguided) breath of
fresh air, coming as it did from an industry whose emissions are directly
linked to childhood
asthma<http://www.lungusa.org/press-room/press-releases/power-plants-epa.html>,
and which is fighting to gut clean air
legislation<http://www.desmogblog.com/industry-already-protesting-epas-first-ever-limits-mercury-pollution>that
would save children’s lives.

Coal Cares™ (www.coalcares.org) purported to “make
asthma<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/health/research/04asthma.html?_r=4>cool”
with decorative and pop-culture
inspired inhalers <http://coalcares.org/freeinhalers.html> (“The Bieber,”
“Harry Potter,” “My Little Pony,” and “My First Inhaler” were particular
favorites). The site also announced that Peabody would offer $10 coupons
towards asthma medication (about 5%-20% of the cost) for families living
within 200 miles of a coal-fired plant. It featured a “Kidz Koal
Korner<http://coalcares.org/kidzkoalkorner.html>”
with asthma-related games for tots, an extensive asthma trivia section and
FAQ <http://coalcares.org/faq.html> (Peter the Great was asthmatic, who
knew!), and a thorough condemnation of solar and wind
alternatives<http://coalcares.org/cleanenergy.html>
.

It was, of course, a hoax, and it was aimed at Peabody Coal, which is lobbying
ferociously<http://solveclimate.com/news/20100323/coal-industry-well-positioned-climate-bill-battle>against
new
pollution standards for power
plants<http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/55615df6595fbfa3852578550050942f%21OpenDocument>proposed
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), standards the agency
says will prevent 120,000 cases of childhood asthma each year in the United
States. Peabody spent over $6 million lobbying Congress last
year<http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=Peabody+Energy&year=2010>,
and the industry has created a dizzying array of fake “grassroots” front
groups<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Coalition_for_Clean_Coal_Electricity>to
distort the public debate and fight legislation.

(Meanwhile, a new study by the American Lung
Association<http://www.lungusa.org/press-room/press-releases/power-plants-epa.html>notes
that coal-fired power plants produce more hazardous air pollution in
the United States than any other source, with the pollution killing 13,000
people a year. Coal-ash disposal
alone<http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageNavigator/adv_bigpicture_coalash_map>increases
risk of cancer, learning disabilities, birth defects and other
illnesses due to exposure from heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and
mercury.)

The Coal Cares™ hoax was devised by a group called Coal is Killing Kids
(CKK), a small environmental and public health group that aims to challenge
Big Coal’s expensive
lobbying<http://www.desmogblog.com/industry-already-protesting-epas-first-ever-limits-mercury-pollution>against
sensible
updates<http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/heart/articles/2011/03/16/epa-proposes-tougher-air-pollution-rules-for-power-plants>to
the Clean Air Act. “We don’t have their millions, but we do have a
knack
for incredibly tasteless jokes,” said Veronica Tomlinson, a pediatrician and
member of CKK. CKK worked with the Yes Lab <http://www.yeslab.org/>, which
is a project of The Yes Men <http://www.theyesmen.org/> to help activist
groups carry out media-savvy creative actions on their own.

"Sure, it’s kind of tasteless to say that
‘Bieber<http://coalcares.org/shipping_info_form=12.html>’
inhalers are a solution to childhood asthma," said Janet Bellamy, a
spokesperson for CKK. "But it's a great deal more tasteless to cause that
asthma in the first place, as coal-fired power plants have been
proven<http://www.lungusa.org/press-room/press-releases/power-plants-epa.html>to
do." Added Justin V. Bond, another spokesperson for CKK: “It’s even
more
tasteless to disproportionately kill poor people.” Coal-fired power plants
are very often built in areas populated by low-income citizens, who then bear
the brunt<http://news.change.org/stories/health-or-wealth-poor-minorities-face-tough-choice-in-chicago>of
the health effects.

“People may laugh at our sick jokes,” said Bellamy, “but they also
understand the real health
impacts<http://www.lungusa.org/press-room/press-releases/power-plants-epa.html>of
burning coal. That’s exactly what the coal industry doesn’t want
people
to think about, because if enough of us were aware of it, we would shut
these plants down once and for all.”



-- 
Meegwetch/Thank you/Merci
*Tami M. Starlight*
Vancouver, Canada
tamistarlight at gmail.com
tami.cosmic (facebook)
tami_starlight (twitter)
604-200-2445home
604-790-9943cell
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