
Fossil Fuels are a Health Hazard Campaign
Fossil fuels are driving the greatest health crisis of our time, yet the fossil fuel industry continues to enjoy unrestricted advertising and sponsorship rights. Alarmingly, fossil fuel pollution kills more people globally than smoking.
This campaign aims to petition the government to ban fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship, positioning Ireland as the first country in the world to take this bold and necessary step in combating the climate crisis.
The campaign builds on our recent participation in the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. During this engagement, our members, Dr Ola Løkken Nordrum and Dr Lisa McNamee, highlighted the urgent need to regulate advertising that promotes fossil fuels.
We emphasised that the climate crisis requires consistent, “everyday” media coverage. Yet, Irish media persist in promoting polluting industries, often without any health warnings for their audiences.
To support this effort, we will publish an open letter, signed by healthcare workers working in Ireland, calling on the government to act. The letter will be published on our website and shared across our social media platforms.
If you and/or your organisation would like to endorse the letter, please do so using this form
Letter
The climate crisis is the greatest threat to global health of the 21st century [1]. In November 2024,, the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change reported on the deep and far-reaching implications of the climate crisis for our health, from escalating heat-related mortality to increasingly extreme and frequent weather events, changing patterns of infection, and food and water insecurity [2].
In addition, The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 99% of the world’s population lives in areas where air quality exceeds safe limits and that annually there are 6.7 million premature deaths from air pollution alone [3,4]. Earlier this year, Doctors for the Environment Australia produced a comprehensive and damning report on the health hazards of fossil fuels, highlighting air pollution as a significant risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, multiple cancers, poorer antenatal outcomes and behavioural problems in children [5].
Fossil fuels are irrefutably the main driver of the climate-health crisis: burning of coal, oil and gas is the primary source of air pollution and is responsible for over 75% of greenhouse gas emissions [5,6].
Despite this knowledge, a record-breaking 57 gigatons of greenhouse gases were released into the atmosphere last year [7]. 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded, and 2024 is predicted to be even hotter [8]. It couldn’t be clearer: we are failing in every sense of the word.
Shockingly, while the planet boiled in 2023 the top 5 fossil fuel companies saw a profit of just shy of 110 billion US dollars [9].
The plastic crisis is the other face of our civilisation’s fossil fuel addiction. Most plastics are made from crude oil, natural gas and coal [10]. The chemicals and additives contained in plastics are known to cause hormonal imbalances, reproductive disorders, infertility and to increase the risk of certain cancers [11]. They also increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by causing hypertension, obesity and diabetes [11,12]. Children are particularly at risk as exposure during foetal development is linked to neurobehavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders [11]. The plastic crisis is a health crisis in itself.
Fossil fuel companies spend billions of euros annually on advertising and sponsorship, not only to increase profit and buy social capital, but to establish, solidify and normalise their place in our society. By prohibiting these companies’ access to our billboards, newspapers, TV, radio and social media channels we are taking the first step towards instigating the necessary shift in social and political attitudes and weaning ourselves off our fossil fuel addiction.
As healthcare professionals, we are compelled to act when health is threatened. Just as we once did with smoking, we are now calling on the government to ban fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship. Let’s fuel health instead.
References
- The Lancet countdown on health and climate change. Accessed 14/12/2024 [ https://www.thelancet.com/countdown-health-climate]
- Romanello M, Walawender M, Hsu S-C, et. al. (2024) ‘The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action.’ The Lancet. Accessed 06/11/2024 [https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01822-1/fulltext]
- The World Health Organisation. Air Pollution. Overview. Accessed 14/12/2024 [https://www.who.int/health-topics/air-pollution]
- The World Health Organisation. Household Air Pollution. Key Facts. Accessed 14/12/2024 [https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health]
- Doctors for the Environment Australia (2024). Fossil fuels are a Health Hazard Report. Accessed 06/11/2024 [https://www.dea.org.au/fossil_fuels_are_a_health_hazard_report]
- The United Nations. Causes and effects of climate change. Accessed 06/10/2024 [https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change ]
- The United Nations Environmental Program (2024) UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2024. Accessed 12/12/2024 [https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2024]
- NASA. NASA analysis confirms 2023 as warmest year on record. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. January 12, 2024. Accessed 12/12/2024. [https://plus.nasa.gov/video/2023-was-the-hottest-year-on-record/#:~:text=2023%20%20was%20Earth%E2%80%99s%20warmest%20year,the%20warmest%2010%20on%20record]
- Artis Z (2024) Big Oil Made Billions Amidst the Hottest Year on Record. NRDC. Expert Blog. Accessed 06/11/2024 [https://www.nrdc.org/bio/zanagee-artis/big-oil-made-billions-amidst-hottest-year-record]
- Baheti P. How is plastic made? A simple step-by-step explanation. BPF – British Plastics Federation. 2024. Accessed 10/12/204 [https://www.bpf.co.uk/plastipedia/how-is-plastic-made.aspx]
- United Nations Environment Porgramme and Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (May 2023). Chemicals in Plastics; a technical report. Accessed 10/12/2024 [https://www.unep.org/resources/report/chemicals-plastics-technical-report]
- Rajagopalan S, Landrigan PJ, et al. (Nov 2021) Pollution and the Heart. New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 385, No. 20. Accessed 10/12/2024 [https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2030281]