“What makes this study particularly important is that it
shows how we have so absurdly undervalued the welfare of our children in
how we approach our public policies,” said Aaron Bernstein, interim
director of the Center for Climate, Health and Global Environment
at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a pediatrician at
Boston Children’s Hospital, to WBUR. Bernstein was not involved with the
study. “We really have a lot to gain by fully accounting for what air
pollution and other forms of pollution do to children,” he added.

The researchers quantified just how much RGGI has contributed
to children’s health. The main driver for the improved health was from
the reduction of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Due to the
restriction, the region avoided an estimated 537 cases of child asthma,
112 preterm births, 98 cases of autism spectrum disorder, and 56 cases
of low birth weight from 2009 to 2014, which provided an economic
savings of between $191 million to $350 million, according to Environmental Health News.