September 30, 2014

The health effects of climate change

take Part - The Journal of the American Medical Association, the voice of the nation’s powerful medical establishment, has issued a call to arms to doctors, urging those in health-related fields to throw their weight behind climate change prevention efforts.

... The editorial accompanied a new JAMA study that found that climate change is already making us sick and will make us even sicker as global warming accelerates.

What the research shows:

    By the year 2050, not only will average daily temperatures rise in many American cities, but there will also be many more days of extreme heat each year, leading to a spike in heat-related illnesses.

    More smoggy days will make us increasingly susceptible to asthma, allergies, and lung disease.

    Longer periods of heat will bring more infectious diseases, such as mosquito- and tick-borne viruses.

    A hotter climate will reduce agricultural yields and boost the prevalence of pests and plant diseases. The likely result will be food shortages, including less availability of healthy veggies, fruit, and grains.

    The extreme droughts predicted for much of the southwestern United States create dust clouds, which add to particulates in the air.

    Smoke from the wildfires already rampant in the West is toxic to the lungs.

    Heavy rainfall and flooding can overtax sewage systems, allowing disease-causing bacteria to contaminate drinking water.

    The stress of living through extreme heat tends to increase rates of depression and anxiety. Studies show that people who live through tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and other natural disasters have a higher incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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