U.S. Doctors Warn About Potential Effects Of Climate Change; Says It Makes People Sick; Children And Elders Most Vulnerable
The doctors in the U.S. came and warned the effects of climate change and stated that the changes are making the American's increasingly sick. The changes in the climate and its impact on the human body were clearly drawn in a recent report released by 11 of the country's major medical societies.
The report was released by the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, a medical group which contains at least 400,000 doctors. The group is said to compose more than half of the total physicians in the country. The report pointed out types of threats, and it starts with direct harms including injuries and deaths due to asthma, other lung diseases from hot weather and violent weather among others. The other threats are the spread of disease like the Zika virus by insects through contaminated food and water, and bad mental health due to climate change including depression and anxiety.
"We think that the most important step to protect our health is by making an immediate change to clean renewable energy," said the 11 medical groups of gynecologists, infectious disease specialists, and pediatricians in a statement. The researchers have been warning for decades the impact of fossil fuels on global warming and the changing climate. The recent years have shown significant changes in global climate, and this resulted in the depletion of a number of indigenous flora and fauna across the world.
"The physicians are the front line watchers of climate change effects in the exam rooms, and the worst part is that children and elders of low-income families are hit the most by the changes," said Dr. Mona Sarfaty. Sarfaty is the current head of the consortium and director of the Center for Climate Change Communication part of George Mason University. "Unless we take concrete action, the harms to our health will be worse in the coming years. If we could take action sooner, the impact will be less and can save the health of all the Americans," the report concludes.
