I commend the author of “Health effects of bypass need scrutiny” for raising health questions about the U.S. 29 Western Bypass (The Daily Progress, Aug. 3).
As a pediatrician (whose job it is to care for the health of children), the author emphasizes that there will be adverse health consequences for Charlottesville and Albemarle kids caused by implementing the bypass plan.
What I would like to highlight is how much new science there is in hand about this, since the initial investigations of the environmental impacts of the bypass decades ago.
A revolution in this science has unfolded, revealing how low-level exposures to things like automobile exhaust can affect children’s health, especially if the exposures take place in the womb or early in childhood development.
As chief scientist of a Charlottesville-based health organization (www.EHN.org), I track this science very closely. I know that the original bypass impact assessments reflect very few, if any, of these scientific advances. They are woefully out of date.
The supervisors, and the commonwealth, owe citizens of Albemarle County and Charlottesville a 21st-century discussion of these issues, not ones informed by science that is decades out of date.
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