Environmental health implications of global climate change

Abstract

This paper reviews the background that has led to the now almost-universally held opinion in the scientific community that global climate change is occurring and is inescapably linked with anthropogenic activity. The potential implications to human health are considerable and very diverse. These include, for example, the increased direct impacts of heat and of rises in sea level, exacerbated air and water-borne harmful agents, and--associated with all the preceding--the emergence of environmental refugees. Vector-borne diseases, in particular those associated with blood-sucking arthropods such as mosquitoes, may be significantly impacted, including redistribution of some of those diseases to areas not previously affected. Responses to possible impending environmental and public health crises must involve political and socio-economic considerations, adding even greater complexity to what is already a difficult challenge. In some areas, adjustments to national and international public health practices and policies may be effective, at least in the short and medium terms. But in others, more drastic measures will be required. Environmental monitoring, in its widest sense, will play a significant role in the future management of the problem.

The reported incidence of campylobacteriosis modelled as a function of earlier temperatures and numbers of cases, Montreal, Canada, 1990–2006

“…Concerns about the potential health effects of global warming include increases in bacterial infections among animals and humans (Hunter 2003;McMichael et al 2006;Watson et al 2005). A rise in average ambient temperatures would be accompanied by a greater frequency of prolonged hot weather (McMichael et al 2006;Watson et al 2005).…”

“…A rise in average ambient temperatures would be accompanied by a greater frequency of prolonged hot weather (McMichael et al 2006;Watson et al 2005). These changes could affect the occurrence of infectious diseases, for instance through the increased proliferation of some microbes and of their vectors, including flies (McMichael et al 2006), or increased human migration (McMichael et al 2006), including "environmental refugees" (Watson et al 2005).…”

Climate Change, Vector-borne Disease and Interdisciplinary Research: Social Science Perspectives on an Environment and Health Controversy

“…That is, this body of literature uses data concerning climate and VBDs (often preexisting data reinterpreted in light of climate change concerns) to justify a breakdown of traditional disciplinary boundaries. This is demonstrated by the striking number of papers in the climate-VBD literature that begin by affirming the reality and importance of anthropogenic climate change, before proceeding to explore its implications for VBDs (e.g., Patz et al, 1996Patz et al, , 2004Patz and Lindsay, 1999;Haines et al, 2000;Patz, 2000;Epstein, 2001aEpstein, , b, 2002Haines, 2001;Patz and Khaliq, 2002;Haines and Patz, 2004;McMichael and Woodruff, 2004;Watson et al, 2005;McMichael et al, 2006). Interestingly, this statement becomes more implicit than explicit in recent papers (e.g., Haines et al, 2006a, b;Patz and Olson, 2006a, b;Patz et al, 2007Patz et al, , 2008Frumkin and McMichael, 2008), perhaps reflecting the now less-contested nature of scientific consensus on the link between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change.…”

Transport and dynamics of toxic pollutants in the natural environment and their effect on human health: research gaps and challenge

“…Overall, discussions surround the relationship between climate change and the ecosystem impact (Schiedek et al 2007) in terms of alteration to water dynamics in the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial environments, which affect the fate of contaminants, the direct effects on partitioning between phases, molecular degradation and exchange mechanisms and deposition and resuspension of material. In addition, effects on organisms (including humans) which alter biodiversity, geographical distribution, reduction/extinction of species, the invasion of non-native species (Watson et al 2005) and alteration of the food web structure have potential to change exposure conditions for humans. In addition changes to human behaviour in response to climatic variation are only now beginning to be considered (Preti et al 2007;McLeman and Smit 2006).…”