What the Supreme Court ’s Stunning Rulings Mean for Your Health

The Supreme Court’s recent trio of landmark rulings—relaxing concealed carry gun laws, overturning Roe v. Wade, and limiting the power of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate power-plant emissions industry wide—have generated all manner of political and judicial blowback. Those who stand to benefit from the rulings applaud the court’s historic actions, and critics condemn them as extreme judicial overreach. But more important than politics is the very real impact the rulings are likely to have—in both the short and long term—on the health of Americans, whose lives are decidedly affected by any decisions involving pollution, guns, and abortion. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Here are the potential public-health implications of the decisions, and what can we expect over the next years as they work their way into the literal body politic. More polluted air—and inflammation—for all Of the recent rulings, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency has the most nationwide impact, if only because all of us share and breathe air, and all of us are thus touched by the smokestack emissions produced by the country’s 3,477 fossil-fueled power plants. The ruling struck down the EPA’s power to cap emissions across that entire sector, concluding that such authority went beyond the regulatory scope of what the 1970 Clean Air Act allowed. That, medical experts say, is bad news for all of us. In...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Public Health Source Type: news