May health news: How climate change endangers your health

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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2. Spread of infectious diseases
With rising temperatures, Canadians could succumb to conditions never before seen or rarely treated in this country, like malaria and dengue fever. These diseases are showing up in the Caribbean and Central America, putting Canadians travelling to these regions at risk.

Lyme disease, which can cause chronic arthritis and neurological symptoms, is another health concern. As the weather gets warmer, ticks are able to survive in more northerly climates like Canada. "Right now it's just at the tip of southern Ontario around Lake Erie," says Abelsohn. "It's likely going to spread 200 km north and also into Saskatchewan and Alberta."

The warmer weather could also increase the risk of West Nile Virus, which can lead to meningitis, encephalitis and neurological complications. As temperatures rise, mosquito eggs can survive the winters rather than die off and WNV outbreaks tend to occur after severe droughts when rain and stagnant water sources return.

3. Climate change revealed in extreme weather
Floods, droughts and forest fires will also increase with climate change and bring on a whole host of health problems, including respiratory diseases, mental health disorders, toxicity and death.

"Severe windstorms, hailstorms and rainstorms are going to become more common and cause all sorts of problems -- disruption of water supplies, disruption of power supplies and destruction of homes, bridges and roads," says Abelsohn.

Extreme rain in Ontario in 2000, for example, caused an E. coli outbreak in Walkerton when wells near a pig farm were contaminated from manure, causing seven deaths and serious illness in 2,300 people. Meanwhile, in Kelowna, BC, summer forest fires in 2003 (the number of which increased significantly from a decade earlier) resulted in a 46 per cent increase in patient visits for respiratory conditions.

What you can do about climate change
Abelsohn recommends the following steps to minimize your impact on the environment:

1. At home: reduce energy consumption by changing lightbulbs to compact fluorescents, turn down the heat one or two degrees, wash clothes in colder water, hang laundry to dry, and properly insulate your home. Also, recycle as much as possible and buy produce close to home. "This all cuts down on carbon dioxide emissions," explains Abelsohn.

2. On the road: take public transportation, or use active transportation -- walking or cycling -- which not only cuts CO2 emissions, but also improves your lungs, heart, bones and muscles, and helps to manage your weight.

3. At a community level: talk to municipal and provincial leaders to introduce legislation. "We should all follow British Columbia's lead, which has suggested a carbon tax. That is going to be absolutely necessary because of the urgency of the situation," says Abelsohn.

"Climate change is going to impact our lives," warns Abelsohn. "It's an urgent situation and we need to both adapt to it and take steps ourselves and collectively to cut down our carbon dioxide emissions and be stewards for the planet for ourselves and future generations."

Check out 30 tips for eco-friendly living to learn how you can be kinder to the environment.

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