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WHAT'S NEW
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May health news: How climate change endangers your health
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Find out why global warming can put you at risk for a range of illness such as heart disease, asthma, Lyme disease and more.
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By Heather Camlot
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Climate change will have significant and irreversible effects on the health of Canadians if we don't minimize our carbon footprints on the environment, a new research review warns.
The comprehensive review from the Ontario College of Family Physicians underscores impending health problems for Canadians and the international community, from the devastating effects of climate change; the change in average weather over time and region, including precipitation, wind and temperature.
The effects of climate change
Carbon dioxide emissions from industrialized countries have been found to significantly contribute to climate change. "We're the ones -- Canada, the U.S., Europe -- who have produced the CO2s, who have produced the problem, and although we will be affected, people in developing countries will be affected more," says Dr. Alan Abelsohn, lecturer in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Toronto and one of the review's authors. "The World Health Organization reports that 350,000 people a year in developing countries are dying because of climate change and that's going to escalate rapidly."
The WHO released a report in April and stated that the hardest hit will be those in poorer nations in Asia, where increasing temperatures and rainfalls will lead to hunger, disease and poverty. Floods, malnutrition, malaria and diarrhea already cause about 150,000 deaths annually, with Asia accounting for half that number. Worldwide, more than 1.2 billion people have been affected and almost 100,000 people have been killed by floods alone between 1992 and 2001. Closer to home, a two-week heat wave in France in 2003 resulted in 15,000 premature deaths.
Health effects of climate change in Canada
Canada is not immune to the effects of rising temperatures. Based on the research review, three types of climate-related illnesses will prevail in Canada:
1. Heat- and smog-related illnesses
According the OCFP review, Toronto, London and Winnipeg could experience more than 60 days per year with temperatures of over 30 C by 2080. (In 2005, Toronto had 48 days of smog alerts and 25 days of heat alerts within a 60-day period.) The average temperature in this country has already risen 1.3 C over the last 50 years (twice the global average rate of warming), and Natural Resources Canada estimates that temperatures will rise another 1 to 2 C above the current average by 2020, 2 to 4 C by 2050 and 5 to 10 C by 2090 due to human emissions of greenhouse gases. "We're going to have a lot of heat. With the heat comes smog. And smog causes enormous discomfort, illness and death." Chronic health effects due to air pollution and smog include: bronchitis, asthma, heart disease and stroke.
Allergies will also worsen, as plants wake up from their dormant period earlier and produce more ragweed for a longer period of time.
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