Originally published January 2 2006
Researchers assess the risks to human health posed by global warming
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the World Health Organization have released figures based on a compilation of studies that provide mounting evidence of the impact global warming has on human health, as the WHO claims 150,000 people have died each of the last 30 years from causes related to global warming.
Add one more item to the list of things that can be affected by climate change and global warming: human health.
Global Warming
Mortality Linked to Climate Change
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Global leaders will convene in Montreal on Nov. 28 at the first meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The treaty, which took effect in February, has not been signed by the U.S.
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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the World Health Organization have compiled a series of studies showing that people have been adversely affected by regional and global climate change. The WHO suspects 150,000 people per year, for the past 30 years, have died as a result of a gradually warming planet. The WHO says that annually, 5 million cases of illness can be attributed to it, too.
And they think things are only going to get worse.
But they say governments can play a role in stemming these escalating temperatures. And the countries most responsible for the warming trend, such as the United States - which contributes the largest share of greenhouse gases per capita - should play a role in prevention.
The paper appears today in the journal Nature.
Looking across the globe, Jonathan Patz, a professor at UW's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and a team of climate and health scientists combed through the scientific literature looking for specific incidences of human-induced climate change and the ill effects it has on people.
They found many.
They cited both broad-scale examples - such as the 2003 European heat wave that killed nearly 45,000 in two weeks - and smaller-scale examples, such as the local effects of "urban heat islands," a phenomenon in which cities register temperatures 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the outlying area.
In both cases, the higher temperatures have been attributed to human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels or the design of urban landscapes.
"Climate scientists think that human-induced climate change has amplified the severity of recent extreme events such as Hurricane Katrina and the 2003 European heat wave," which has led to a loss in life, said Tony McMichael, director of the Australian National University's Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, who was not involved in the study.
But there is also "growing evidence that various infectious diseases are changing their geographic range, seasonality and incidence rate in association with ongoing climatic changes," he said.
Indeed, mosquitoes, ticks and sandflies - common vectors of disease - all react to climate. For example, Patz's team found research that showed an increase in cases of malaria in the highlands of Kenya during periods of extreme heat variability. Another study they noted documented a correlation between warming trends in Ethiopia and malarial infections.
Patz said researchers who have observed West Nile virus' spread across the U.S. have documented a correlation of its movement with hotter and drier weather - the peculiar weather of choice for the primary carrier of the virus, the Culex mosquito.
"Climate change is not just another minor environmental problem and incidental health hazard," McMichael said. "A change in Earth's climatic conditions will disrupt many of the natural systems that affect human health," including regional food production, infectious disease agents, patterns of heat stress and exposure to extreme weather events, such as cyclones, floods and fires.
Unbalanced burden
Unfortunately, regions that will bear the biggest brunt of these changes, such as Africa, not only produce some of the lowest per capita emissions of greenhouse gases, said Patz, but have the least ability to adapt and deal with climate change.
"Herein lies an enormous global ethical challenge," he said.
According to climate scientists, the Earth's temperature is likely to increase between 2.5 and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. As a result, the seas will rise and the number of people at risk from flooding by coastal storm surges is projected to increase.
But places such as the Midwest and Northeast will not be impervious to climate changes, said Patrick Kinney, associate professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University. He cited a rise in dangerous ozone days, which he predicts will continue to increase in number.
McMichael said while some regions may actually benefit from the rise in global temperatures, the effects will be short-lived.
"Yes, in the short term, some temperature-zone regions will gain from improved crop yields, some will benefit from conditions becoming too hot or dry for mosquitoes, and some will benefit from alleviation of extreme cold in winter," he said. But, "in the longer term, if current trends continue, these gains will disappear as conditions become more extreme."
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