NEWTON — Representatives from a coalition of concerned medical, climate, and citizen advocacy groups came together to meet with U.S. Joseph Kennedy III on Jan. 26 to discuss the urgent need for leadership to circumvent a Massachusetts energy policy that refers to natural gas as a bridge fuel calling for more gas capacity projects.
Dr. Brita Lundberg, an infectious diseases physician and member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, expressed the growing concern of the medical community over direct human exposures to toxins, carcinogens and environmental pollutants from natural gas infrastructure, as well as the indirect health consequences of methane gas as a contributor to climate change.
Citing a mounting body of medical evidence, Lundberg touched on known human health impacts from hazardous air pollutant exposure to methane gas releases such as asthma and other respiratory complaints. She also referenced illnesses from exposures to benzene and other carcinogens, which have been detected in populations living close to the gas drilling rigs, including childhood cancers such as acute lymphocytic leukemia.