PUBLIC HEALTH: Prolonged allergy seasons, the resurgence of certain diseases and extreme weather events are spurred by climate change and affect human health.
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Dr. Anthony Szema is used to seeing patients with red eyes and runny noses. But in the past couple of years, the New York-based allergist has been faced with an onslaught of patients complaining their symptoms are starting earlier and hitting harder than ever before.
Szema believes climate change is a culprit in the extended severe allergy seasons. And he is one of a small number of physicians who are beginning to talk to their patients about it.
"I don't go on a soapbox making a scientific case, but by the time patients come to my office, they pretty much understand something is going on," he said. "They want to know why they are wheezing, why they have watery eyes and why their throats are swelling up. They understand the pollen season is worse this year."
"I give multiple etiologies," he said, referring to the causes of illness, "but climate change is one of them."
As scientists solidify the links between climate change and health issues like tropical ailments that infect Americans on the backs of whipping winds and warming ocean tides, top medical associations are becoming a high-profile lobbying force for climate regulations.
Prolonged allergy seasons, re-emerging illnesses and more extreme weather events are spurred on by climate change and will systematically affect human health, they argue.
Now, health advocates say physicians like Szema need to study up on the environment and bring conversations about the fingerprints of climate change right down to the doctor-patient level.
Most individual doctors remain reluctant to speak out on climate-health links. But top medical associations leapt into the fray this past year as U.S. EPA's climate regulations became a target of GOP-led attacks in Congress.
Medical associations join the fight for regulations
The American Medical Association and American Lung Association, for example, were part of a coalition that coordinated a defense for reining in the emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes. Their argument: Protect human health.
For that fight, they offered up a cadre of experts to speak out on the connections between greenhouse gas emissions and higher rates of asthma or other serious illnesses. Some health advocates see this as a preview of what is to come.
"The challenge for groups like the American Thoracic Society is that we are professional organizations designed to talk to ourselves. We are not well-structured to effectively communicate with the public on issues as large as this. We can certainly publish opinion pieces in our journals that make the case, but we don't have a direct line to The Washington Post or The Wall Street Journal," said Gary Ewart, director of government relations at the American Thoracic Society.
At the moment, he added, primary care physicians are also not well-positioned to squeeze talks about climate change and associated threats into 10-minute patient visits.
"In most patient encounters, you need to get the family history, and most of our physicians are seeing patients with complex problems and prescribing drugs and other lifestyle interventions ... doing that in a 10- to 15-minute discussion is a lot to cover," he said.
But Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said doctors still have a special responsibility to read up on these issues, verify the facts for themselves and help inform their communities and policymakers.
"Every physician has a role in prevention, and if we can help improve the environment, why shouldn't we?" he said. "If we saw a river was infected, we would tell our patients that they shouldn't drink the water from that river or bathe in that river, and I hope they would do work as good citizens to make sure whatever was polluting that river was taken care of."
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9 Comments
Add CommentHey, why do you only have one source of information for this article? And why is that source of information come from a lobby that wants to charge me to see the article? Wow, that is some serious untransparency of information. They probably made the whole thing up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou sound like quite the authority on reliable sources. - "They probably mad the whole thing up."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow that's a great source of reasoning, or am I thinking of unfounded accusations?
Of course, if you suspect that the folks at Climatewire or SA "made the whole thing up," we can always double check with the sources mentioned in the article:
American Medical Association
American Lung Association
American Thoracic Society
American Public Health Association
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Health Care Without Harm
Harvard Medical School Center for Health and the Global Environment
Health and Environment Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
and the variety of apparent authorities on the matter. Assuming that they're not all in on it together, that is...
Where are the links to the sources? I could say I have the support of the UN but if I don't have an actual link to the source it means nothing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOut of curiosity, for which part of the article do you want a source?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe whole article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's mainly just reporting of direct quotes. That is the source...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYour snake oil order is ready sir.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo Nitpic'er:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs loopsyel educated you, the list of sources includes quotes by authorities on the matter such as
Dr. Anthony Szema, allergist
Gary Ewart, director of government relations,
American Thoracic Society.
Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director,
American Public Health Association
Epstein & Ferber, authors,
"Changing Planet, Changing Health"
Dr. Mark Windt,
allergist, immunologist, and pulmonologist
Cynthia Romero, MD, family practice
Kim Knowlton, senior scientist Health & Environment
Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
Richard Ostfeld, disease ecologist,
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
One or more of those may have links. If you're heard of the internet, then look it up.
P.S. The article is reprinted from Environment and Energy Publishing. It would list the sources for which you are so desperately seeking. Use that link to satisfy your curiosity.
This piece of reporting is as about 'unscientific' as it gets. Pure speculation and drivel.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisS.A. keeps deteriorating.