This was written by Dr. Joan Schiller, a medical oncologist, Chair of the Oncologists United for Climate and Health Steering Committee, and a member of Moms Clean Air Force.
When I tell a patient they have cancer, the first question I usually get is: why?
As a medical oncologist, delivering this news is part of my job, but it never gets easier. My practice and research focus on lung cancer, which is responsible for about 125,000 deaths each year despite the advances we’ve made in treatments over the past decade. I can never say with absolute certainty why a person develops cancer, but I tell them that habits like smoking tobacco increase their risk. I also tell them that there are some risk factors that aren’t totally in their control—such as exposure to air pollution.
Air pollution is responsible for about 14% of lung cancer deaths worldwide. Yet, even as the medical community learns more and more about how air pollution wreaks havoc on our bodies, Congress is moving to allow the nation’s largest industrial polluters to turn off their pollution controls and release unlimited amounts of carcinogens and other toxic chemicals into the air we breathe. Earlier this month, the Senate voted to pass a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would roll back a rule that requires major polluters to follow “Maximum Achievable Control Technology” standards for seven of the most toxic chemicals known to humankind. Without this rule in place, chemical manufacturers, pesticide makers, refineries, and other large industrial polluters could permanently shut off their pollution controls and could stop monitoring and reporting their emissions.
The resolution is in the House for a vote, and if it passes this final hurdle, the health consequences will be devastating. The rollback will effectively gut the Clean Air Act’s ability to protect us from the worst air pollutants, chemicals that are harmful even in tiny quantities.
Tell the House: Don’t Allow Toxic Polluters to Turn Off Pollution Controls
It is horrifying to think that more people could be diagnosed with cancer simply because our leaders decided to pander to industry rather than protect their bosses, the people they were elected to serve. I’ve seen cancer up close more times than I can count. I’ve watched parents worry about who will take care of their children after they’re gone, felt the hopelessness of families in dire financial straits as medical bills pile up, and grieved when my patients don’t make it to their anniversaries. It’s unconscionable to me that anyone would actively choose to put more families through that when we know that existing protections can prevent it.
Take the notorious Union Carbide facility in Institute, West Virginia, for example. A 2023 study by ProPublica found that the excess cancer risk in the community surrounding Union Carbide is 36 times the level that EPA considers acceptable. Rather than enforce the Clean Air Act, Congress is now poised to strip its protections, enabling Union Carbide and hundreds of other toxic polluters to blanket communities with unlimited amounts of the world’s most potent carcinogens, including dioxins, PCBs, lead, mercury, and more.
Cancer isn’t the only disease that can be caused (yes, caused) by breathing dangerous industrial pollution. These same chemicals that I worry about my patients breathing are also linked to birth defects, brain damage, and a suite of other harms, like strokes, asthma, and other life-altering and sometimes life-ending conditions. Cancer is just one of our problems in a world where industrial giants can pollute without limit or accountability.
Here’s the good news: the House hasn’t voted on this resolution yet. There’s still time to cast a spotlight on this offense and perhaps even stop it. Find out which facilities near you are major sources of pollution by using state or local environmental databases and then share that information by posting it on social media and alerting local public health departments, community groups, PTAs, and others for them to disseminate.
Importantly, talk to media about how your community could suffer if this resolution makes it through Congress. Call or write to your United States Representative and ask them to reject this reckless attack on human health. Industry is pushing hard for their free pass to pollute, so give your elected official the information, and political cover, they need to support the well-being of our families. Remind lawmakers that a vote for this resolution is a vote for condemning our children and their own children to an unhealthy future.
We may not have a cure for cancer, but we have a lot of tools to prevent it. This one just requires some buy-in from people at the top.
Tell the House: Don’t Allow Toxic Polluters to Turn Off Pollution Controls