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Updated: Dec 31, 2025

Measuring Carbon Content in Airway Macrophages Exposed to Carbon-Containing Particulate Matters
Published on: July 12, 2024
Impacts of Coal Use on Health
Michael Hendryx1, Keith J Zullig2, Juhua Luo3
1Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA;
Abstract:
This article reviews evidence for the public health impacts of coal across the extraction, processing, use, and waste disposal continuum. Surface coal mining and processing impose public health risks on residential communities through air and water pollution. Burning coal in power plants emits more nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and heavy metals per unit of energy than any other fuel source and impairs global public health. Coal ash disposal exposes communities to heavy metals and particulate matter waste. Use of coal in domestic households causes public health harm concentrated in developing nations. Across the coal continuum, adverse impacts are disproportionately felt by persons of poor socioeconomic status, contributing to health inequities. Despite efforts to develop renewable energy sources, coal use has not declined on a global scale. Concentrated efforts to eliminate coal as an energy source are imperative to improve public health and avert serious climate change consequences.
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