World’s doctors claim climate change could be catastrophic
September 16, 2009
Doctors have warned that if politicians do not seriously attempt to tackle climate change at the United Nations conference in Copenhagen in December then the results for the whole world could be catastrophic.
A letter signed by the leaders of eighteen academies of medicine and colleges of physicians from around the globe points out that the world’s health depends on politicians at the conference doing all they can to ensure that radical commitments are made to cut down on the levels of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.
The letter published in medical journals The Lancet and British Medical Journal warns that with the present financial crisis so prevalent in everyone’s minds politicians may be a little more wary of making hard decisions on the subject of climate control. The letter also said that it was important that doctors from around the world took a lead in speaking out.
Doctors have been warning that climate change will effect the world’s population in many different ways for some time now. Not least is the possibility that increased drought will cause widespread malnutrition, increased flooding will cause more outbreaks of diseases like cholera and a general warming of the planet will expand the breeding sites of mosquitoes which carry a variety of diseases into the world’s temperate zones.
The letter calls for all governments to make an effort and the fact that it has been published in both leading medical journals shows just how important the world’s doctors feel the impact of global warming will be on the world’s health.
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