ISEE Members in the News - April 2025

George Thurston

The New York Times article from April 1, 2025, discusses president Donald Trump's recent statements opposing the Biden administration's stricter auto emissions regulations. President Trump announced that he planned to relax limits on pollution from cars, saying that the move wouldn’t “mean a damn bit of difference to the environment.”

Some advocates support the administration's stance, while some industry leaders, such as ISEE's own, express concerns about potential environmental impacts.

George D. Thurston, a professor of environmental medicine at NYU Langone Health, a leading hospital system in Manhattan that includes a medical school, said fossil fuel pollution from combustion engine vehicles was “insidious.” Breathing fine particles from sources like vehicles can cause inflammation that spreads throughout the body, increasing the risk of health problems like lung cancer, heart disease and asthma.

“When you’re looking at the various source of pollution, it’s the car in front of you, it’s the truck in front of you, it’s the roads you walk along,” Dr. Thurston said.

“It causes impacts that we all experience every day of our lives,” he said, adding, “I think the president, like most of us, is unaware of this.”

Read the full article here.