Political Quotes

“I rise today to introduce the Clean Cooking Support Act. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by my friend and colleague, Senator Durbin. Our bill aims to address a serious global public health and environmental issue where leadership by the United States can make a real difference. Today, close to 3 billion people, or one-third of the global population, rely on ``dirty cooking,'' such as open fires or inefficient, polluting, and unsafe cookstoves that use agricultural waste, coal, dung, wood, charcoal, or other solid fuels, to cook their meals. The majority of people using these types of cookstoves and fuels are in developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Exposure to smoke from these traditional cooking methods and open fires, referred to as ``household air pollution,'' causes chronic and acute diseases such as lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Alarmingly, the household air pollution caused by traditional cookstoves and open tires causes 4 million premature deaths annually, including 400,000 children younger than 5 years of age, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. Women and girls are disproportionately affected, as they spend hours cooking, inhaling toxic smoke, and collecting fuels. These cookstoves also create serious environmental problems. Household air pollution does not remain in the home; it contributes to more than 10 percent of global ambient air pollution.…”