Canada: Extreme Weather May Hurt Health

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

CBC

CANMORE, ALTA. - Researchers in Canada are concerned that global climate change is linked to a possible increase in the number of diseases.

LINKS: Websites related to this story

Scientists have gathered in Alberta for Health Canada's first conference on how changing weather patterns affect people's health.

Delegates say the issue is important because it could affect many people in a fundamental way. Air pollution can cause asthma, for instance, and rising temperatures can affect the quality of water.

"You have to balance these things and prioritize how you try to devote your resources in order to address emerging new diseases and emerging new health conditions that we have to worry about increasingly as time progresses," says the University of British Columbia's Hadi Dowlatabadi.

Dowlatabadi is an expert at integrating the science of climate change with its effects on the ground.

The scientists warn that Canadians should expect an increased number of heat waves, severe droughts and other extreme weather.

This could lead to increased cases of respiratory problems as well as bug or bacteria-borne diseases.

Dr. Susan Germain says she's glad the issue is coming to light because it puts a recognizable face on a problem that many people consider too large to understand.

"It allows us to use more specific examples of how climate change – that big airy fairy area that you can't even understand – is personally affecting you," she says.

Health workers now say it's time for the government to take them and their message seriously.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), September 09, 2001


Moderation questions? read the FAQ