|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
Britain faces malaria, cancer risk due to climate change9 April, 2008 Britain is facing the threat of an epidemic in the form of malaria and other diseases as a result of climate change. Though insect-borne diseases, except Lyme disease, are largely absent in the United Kingdom, global warming could change that scenario within a few decades, warns a report from the British Medical Association (BMA). According to Dr Vivienne Nathanson, Head of Science and Ethics of the British Medical Association, “higher temperatures and heavier rainfall may increase the spread of infections like malaria that have previously been virtually non-existent in the United Kingdom.” Worse still, warmer weather also poses a great risk of an increase in skin cancer rate, sunburn and sunstroke, the report from the BMA has warned, adding that the state-run National Health Service (NHS) “needed to invest in prevention and treatment for serious health implications relating to climate change.” The higher temperatures, predicted as a result of rising emissions of greenhouse-gases, will boost the burden of diseases and shorten lives, the report, titled Health professionals – Taking action on climate change, published on the British Medical Association’s website said. More sunshine would mean increased incidences of sunburn and skin cancer, while flooding would make life harder for the poor. “Higher temperatures and heavier rainfall,” explains the report by the BMA, “may increase the spread of infections like malaria that have previously been virtually non-existent in the United Kingdom. Flooding can lead to the spread of infectious diseases, and flood waters can become contaminated with substances including chemical waste, pesticides or inadequately treated human or animal sewage.” The report by the British Medical Association comes just a few days after the American Public Health Association called for climate-change legislation in order to address the health effects that hotter temperatures will bring, including heat stress, asthma and depression, bloomberg.com has reported. A spokesman of the British Department for Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs was quoted as saying that continued emissions of greenhouse gases was likely to raise temperatures in the United Kingdom by between 2 degrees Celsius and 3.5 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit and 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit) by the 2080s. Rainfall patterns will shift, and local sea levels will rise by 26 to 86 centimeters (10 inches to 34 inches). Besides, winter in Britain is likely to be wetter, and summers, drier. Meanwhile, scientists around the world believe that climate change could have potentially devastating consequences for human health. Tony McMichael of Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australia, had, in January 2008, conducted a large study of the risks posed by warming worldwide. The study, while warning that climate change posed a more “fundamental threat” to health than the economy, had predicted that between 20 million and 70 million more people are likely to be living in malarial regions worldwide by 2080.
|
|
|
|
|
|
