Fossil fuels harm the health of the “cradle at the grave”: report

The extraction, transport and burn of the planet’s fossil fuels have a huge impact on the health of people who starts before their birth and lasts until their death, warned a report on Tuesday.

Pollution of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas has been linked to a wide range of health problems, including false layers, asthma, cancer, stroke, heart disease and more.

“Fossil fuels are a direct assault against health, harming us each stage of their life cycle and at each stage of our life, from uterus to old age,” said Shweta Narayan, the author of the new report of the Global Climate and Health Alliance.

The Alliance, which includes more than 200 organizations representing 46 million health workers around the world, said that the report was the first complete global overview of how fossil fuels affect health through lives.

Life near coal mines or hydraulic fracturing sites has been linked to higher rates of premature births, false layers and other problems during pregnancies, according to research evaluated by peers cited in the report.

During childhood, air pollution of fossil fuels is associated with higher asthma levels and cancers such as leukemia, he added.

Once in old age, people exposed to air pollution have proven to have an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, certain forms of dementia – and early death.

The poorest often strikes the most harshness

Aside from the impacts on the health of the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, transporting them can also constitute a threat, such as gas pipelines fleeing in water systems or mass oil spills.

Even once the fossil fuels have been burned, chemicals such as lead, mercury and PFAS “forever persist in the soil, water and food chain, the report warned.

Extreme meteorological events have made more fierce and common by global warming based on fossil fuels can worsen health impact. Hurricane can eliminate health establishments, for example, while smoke from bush fires can cause respiratory problems.

The immense health toll often falls on communities already disadvantaged and marginalized in poor countries, he added.

Children and the elderly living near coal mines in the Korba central district “fight against asthma, bronchitis and tuberculosis; families are faced with congenital malformations, skin infections and stomach diseases in contaminated water,” said Neha Mahant, local health agent.

“Coal is not content to produce electricity – it generates suffering.”

“ Prohibit lobbying fossil fuels ”

“The age of fossil fuels has poisoned our air, broken health and fractured dignity,” said former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres in a statement related to the report, urging a rapid transition to renewable energies.

Executive director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Jeni Miller, called on governments to undertake to interrupt the new oil, gas and coal projects at the COP30 Non Climate conference in November in Brazil.

“Just as governments have once slowed down the influence of the tobacco industry, they must now prohibit lobbying and disinformation of fossil fuels,” said Miller.

The Alliance also urged governments to stop subsidizing fossil fuels, which increased up to 7 dollars in 2022, representing more than a hundred of world GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Despite repeated warnings on the devastating impacts of climate change caused by humans last year, the world again broke the record for most carbon dioxide emissile emissions.

© 2025 AFP