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GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH NEWS #16: POTENTIAL HEALTH IMPACTS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE FOR THE UNITED STATES, EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE REPORT OF THE HEALTH SECTOR OF THE U.S. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT
Citation:
GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH NEWS #16: POTENTIAL HEALTH IMPACTS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE FOR THE UNITED STATES, EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE REPORT OF THE HEALTH SECTOR OF THE U.S. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT. 2000.
Description:
The health sector assessment was sponsored by and conducted in partnership with EPA's Global Change Research Program. The report was produced by a Health Sector Work Group, co-chaired by Dr. Jonathan Patz (Johns Hopkins University) and Dr. Michael McGeehin (CDC), and this report stems from their first 18 months of work. The Lead Authors represent a broad range of scientific opinion on the health effects of climate change, and were drawn from academia (Johns Hopkins University, Harvard Medical School, the University of South Florida), government (EPA/ORD, NOAA, CDC-Division of Vector-borne Diseases, CDC-Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects), and the private sector (Electric Power Research Institute). Dr. Michael McGeehin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and assessment Co-chair notes that, "This report is unique because it is the first time a group of leading public health experts has been brought together to begin to assess potential health consequences of global climate change specific to the United States." The U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change was mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990 and is the responsibility of the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The findings of the Health Sector Assessment Report will be consolidated with those from other regional and sectoral assessments into a report to Congress later this year. This report is being prepared by the National Assessment Synthesis Team (NAST). The NAST is a committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) with members drawn from government, academia, and the private sector. For the health sector assessment the team used a set of assumptions and/or projections of future climates developed for all participants in the National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. The team identified five categories of health outcomes that are most likely to be affected by climate change because they are associated with weather and/or climate variables: temperature-related morbidity and mortality; health effects of extreme weather events (storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and precipitation extremes); air-pollution-related health effects; water- and foodborne diseases; and vector- and rodentborne diseases. Despite the wide range of scientific opinions held by the Lead Authors, they concluded that climate change and climate variability could have measurable effects on human health. The team concluded that the levels of uncertainty preclude any definitive statement on the direction of potential future change for each of these health outcomes, although they developed some hypotheses. Although they mainly addressed adverse health outcomes, the team identified some positive health outcomes, notably reduced cold-weather mortality, which has not been extensively examined. They found that at present most of the U.S. population is protected against adverse health outcomes associated with weather and/or climate, although certain demographic and geographic populations are at increased risk. The authors conclude that increased improvements in public health and increasingly vigilant monitoring both of climate conditions and of the nation's health status are key to protecting the health of Americans against the consequences of climate change. They identified how the nation can adapt to or prevent some of the health effects of climate change, but recognize that the financial costs of adapting are unknown and potentially high. The report makes clear that the nation must continue to make public health a priority to effectively prevent or adapt to some of the health effects of climate change. Key words: air pollution, climate change, flooding, global warming, heat waves, vectorborne diseases, waterborne diseases.
URLs/Downloads:
U.S. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE
A-NEWS-16.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 92 KB, about PDF)
JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH - THE PROGRAM ON HEALTH EFFECTS OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
ARTICLE ONLINE