Experts: Global Warming Could Harm Health
Evidence Indicates Climate Change Could Affect Individuals, In Addition To Planet As Whole
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Global Warming & Health
Dr. Emily Senay speaks with Julie Chen about how global climate change may be affecting your personal health, focusing on pollen counts, carbon dioxide and dangerous ozone.
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Dr. Emily Senay on The Early Show Monday (CBS/The Early Show)
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Global Warming
The greenhouse effect, a look at the Kyoto Protocol and a history of the Earth's climate.
But what about possible health effects on individuals? Is there cause for concern?
"A lot of scientists certainly think so," said The Early Show health correspondent Dr. Emily Senay Monday.
The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that the amount of ragweed pollen, the stuff that causes hay fever symptoms, may have doubled over the past 40 or 50 years. Why? Scientists say the same carbon dioxide involved in global warming also started helping plants produce more pollen during their reproduction processes.
A government researcher recently reported that additional carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere has also made poison ivy plants larger, and the oil on the leaves that irritates the skin more potent. So, those three-leafed clusters at the edges of forests may itch longer, and contact that might not have triggered a skin reaction decades ago is more likely to now.
"So," Senay observed, "we're starting to see the health effects of global warming."
And carbon dioxide isn't the only air pollutant that might cause trouble.
It's also likely, Senay says, that ozone levels close enough to the ground for us to breathe (as opposed to the type of ozone in the upper-levels of the atmosphere, which protect the Earth) are increasing. According to a report put out by Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health, ozone at or near ground-level can damage lung tissue, reduce lung function, and make the respiratory tract more sensitive to other irritants. They include particulates in the air, which can aggravate conditions such as asthma, and even increase a person's risk of cancer.
And global warming's impact could even extend to water's ability to spread disease.
The Union of Concerned Scientists suggests it does, Senay points out. Changes in drought and flood patterns may increase the presence of waterborne pathogens including parasites, which can cause severe digestive problems if we swallow them. Diseases carried by insects such as mosquitoes may be spread more widely if rainfall patterns that influence their movement and breeding are altered, as some experts predict. There's no proof yet, but the Union of Concerned Scientists says prolonged heat around the Great Lakes region helped trigger outbreaks of St. Louis encephalitis in that Great Lakes area.
Another ill effect of extra heat could come in the form of food-borne illnesses. We know that high temperatures can turn food into a breeding ground for dangerous bacteria. The more warm weather there is, the greater the chance that food will become contaminated and make us sick.
Which brings Senay to the impact of heat itself on us?
She says all the harmful things heat can do to us may only intensify if temperatures rise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reminds us that heat-related illnesses are especially troublesome for the very old, the very young, and people who exercise too hard and too long in hot conditions. Researchers at Johns Hopkins predict the greatest increase in heat-related deaths in cities in the Midwest and Northeast, where extreme heat is now relatively sporadic, but could become more consistent and dangerous.
There is, however, a bit of a silver lining connected to added heat. If it means milder winters, the World Health Organization says fewer people may die of winter's cold.
But, on balance, Senay concludes, experts expect climate change will hurt our health more than it will help.
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Our weatherman can't tell us what it's going to do next week. How can these experts predict whats going to happen in the next 20 years!!!!
hahah lmao.....for the sake of my vision lets hope not.
We just got 4 inches of rain spread over the past few days after a very dry July. Global Warming is Wonderful!! Everything is so green and lush! I love it!
Thank you, Algore!
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Already things have warmed up so much in Alaska that huge areas of spruce trees have been lost to tree beetles that couldn't survive there 20 years ago- pristine northern areas are extremely vulnerable to temp change in much the same way that native americans were vulnerable to European diseases. Stay tuned more devastation to come with or without Al Gore. Start thinking for yourselves based on real science not what commentators tell you to get mad about - in this case they want to trash the messenger "Al" and ignore the message. GLOBAL WARMING IS NOT ABOUT PREDICTING YOUR LOCAL WEATHER FORECAST FROM DAY TO DAY PEOPLE!!!!
However, it's been cool in the midwest because large low pressure systems have been parked over Hudson Bay all summer - and it has been rotating cool air from Cananda down into the midwest. A simple look at satellite loops over time shows this and I'm sorry that many local weather personalities who got their credentials by mail don't get this, they are too busy being funny or cute.
DEFINITION:
"WAS A DRIP UNDER PRESSURE".
I don't by the co2 global warming thing. Why because I can think of a hundred things that would affect global warming yet we don't talk about them. I wonder why? The only thing I can up with is your standard environmental conspiracy theiory. I wonder how much all the paved roads increase global temperatures.
I recognize some of the same people disputing this article. They have also disputed the health effects of cigarettes. Guess that is one way to deal with risk - just be in denial on everything.
I recognize some of the same people disputing this article. They have also disputed the health effects of cigarettes. Guess that is one way to deal with risk - just be in denial on everything.
Posted by jimfinster at 06:51 PM : Jul 30, 2007
I think you are talking about me. Yes, I smoke, I never said that smoking was healthy...so I am not in denial. My bad habit will probably kill me in the end. Not one of you health fanatics out there will live forever but you give the impression that you think you will...this to me is a form of denial.
I am all for protecting the environment. I am a nature lover. I live far out in the country with no neighbors in sight. I recycle everything. I refuse to use any herbicides or pesticides etc. I drive an economy car and I would like to put up a wind generator on my property but don't know how to go about it.
The problem I have with the global warming people is that I see most of them as alarmists and fanatics who spread panic and fear among the vulnerable. I don't believe in global warming but I do beleive in protecting our environment.
BTW I don't believe in the war but I do believe in supporting our troops that are there. Please support our troops!!
here's how to install one....I hope.
www.homepower.com/writing
www.homepower.com/magazine/authorguidelines.cfm
It has been brutally hot where I am and I can't help but think of the Twilight Zone show where heat was killing everything and everyone. Whether it is man-made or not, We have to do what we can to stop contributing to the warming and least prepare for the warming as well as we can. I don't think it we can stop it, but we can, perhaps, help the Earth and life on it.
It has been brutally hot where I am and I can't help but think of the Twilight Zone show where heat was killing everything and everyone. Whether it is man-made or not, We have to do what we can to stop contributing to the warming and least prepare for the warming as well as we can. I don't think it we can stop it, but we can, perhaps, help the Earth and life on it.
posted by gabbysmomrs
Gabbysmom...you are the perfect example of someone freaking out over stuff that has happened in this world since the world began. Relax...it is the earth's normal cycle. (This is what I meant about the global warming alarmists setting fear in the hearts of the vulnerable.) Just do your part to treat our earth kindly. Don't freak out!!
I think that every person in China already has a car! There isn't room for any more.
Years ago Shirley Maclaine wrote a book about her travels to China and she said that there was so many cars, that if you were wanting in, you had to just close your eyes and BOOT it and hope someone let you in.
No one wants people to panic but some genuine fear might motivate people into doing what they should have been doing in the first place.
People SHOULD be alarmed with what is going on right now. We have been polluting our air and water for years and years and now we are paying for it. Sure, there are some like you who do their part, but most don't. We now have a serious problem and unless everybody does their part, it isn't going to be enough.
Anyone that doesn't feel some fear about what IS happening and what IS going to happen to this planet if we don't start making some SERIOUS changes is "BRAIN DEAD".
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by michellem99-2009
July 31, 2007 5:47 PM PDT
- Sorry dear, should be 24/7. I try to proof read 'fore hitting the button. Have to use a magnifier. Am human. Hate my blindness as I miss out on so mush the seeing take for granted. Plus Gramma they would have sites where you are can find out you can do this first. Nanny govt. for ya.
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See all 27 CommentsI don't have a problem recyling but it is not blind friendly. I try. Can't waste water as have to pay for usage. They got you coming and going, don't they.