A couple of days ago, MomsRising held its first-ever Internet radio program. Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner moderated a mom-to-mom discussion entitled, The “Controversy” of Clean Air in the Middle of an Asthma Epidemic, which was co-presented by the Moms Clean Air Force and Mocha Moms.

Rowe-Finkbeiner was joined by the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Lisa P. Jackson; Dr. Sumita Khatri, co-director of the Asthma Center at the Cleveland Clinic; and Lydia Rojas, a life-long asthma patient herself who recounted her daughter Stephanie’s deadly experience with asthma. The online event was interactive – with audience members able to live-chat and Tweet comments and questions among themselves and to the speakers – and roused the fierce grizzly moms in all of us. By the end of the program, it was clear that if children need clean air to be healthy and thrive, moms and families need to raise our voices and fight for it.

From 2001 to 2009, Americans with asthma grew from 20.1 million to 24.6 million, a jump of more than 12% over eight years, with children disproportionately affected. Indeed, every panel member’s advocacy of was based on personal commitment, since all had close families members with the disease. Administrator Jackson shared a memory of spending Christmas in the emergency room with her younger son due to an asthma attack, while Rojas told listeners about the day her beautiful 15 year-old daughter went to school, had an asthma attack, and never came home. Rojas's story was painful to hear, but it drove home the critical fact that when children don’t have a clean environment, terrible things can happen.

Dr. Khatri strongly encouraged mothers to fight for clean air. She told listeners that the link between air pollution and public health is indisputable, which is why health organizations and medical providers, from the American Lung Association to the American Academy of Pediatrics, all support the Clean Air Act and more stringent pollution regulations. The newest standard is the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, issued by the EPA in December 2011, will save as many as 11,000 lives, prevent as many as 130,000 asthma attacks among children, and prevent as many as 4,700 heart attacks each year according to the EPA.

The annual direct health care cost of asthma is approximately $50.1 billion, and indirect costs (e.g. lost productivity) add another $5.9 billion. The disease is clearly a burden on American families, our health care system and the American economy. Yet, profit-oriented businesses vehemently oppose clean air regulations. Alleging that they cost jobs and stifle economic activity, polluters are committing tremendous resources to weakening the EPA’s regulatory authority and dismantling clean air standards, despite the harmful health effects. Administrator Jackson said that such arguments present Americans with a false choice between public health and prosperity: American should and can expect both.

At this very moment, pro-polluters are aggressively questioning the need for clean air and erecting obstacles to prevent the progress of pollution standards or attempting tactics to render them ineffectual. There needs to be greater public awareness that clean air is not something to be can taken for granted, but something to be actively protected for the sake of our children and families and everyone. The discussion ended with an appeal to the listeners to sign up for action alerts from MomsRising and the Moms Clean Air Force, so moms, dads and everyone will know when to raise their voices for clean air.

Listen to the program podcast here: