Deaths from air pollution may rise as climate changes
Changes in air pollution over the next half century could cause hundreds of extra deaths and hospital admissions each year, the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency have warned.
In an update
to the 2002 report “Health effects of climate change
in the UK”, the DoH and HPA look at areas in which there have been
developments since the original research was conducted.
They say that although the levels of some important pollutants may decline
over the next 50 years, the concentration of ozone is likely to rise. “The
increases are likely to be significant,” the report warns. “With
the least constraining assumptions (no threshold of effect assumed) up
to 1,500 extra deaths and hospital admissions per annum might be expected.”
The report also suggests that changes in agriculture and wildlife management
may increase the incidence of tick-borne diseases and that, although
malaria outbreaks in the UK are likely to be rare and on a small scale,
prompt reaction to any outbreaks will reduce the chances of endemic malaria
transmission in the UK. Consequently, the DoH and HPA argue, a surveillance
system should be established to monitor the distribution and abundance
of arthropod vectors in the UK.
Health professionals Health professional
organisations are well placed to highlight
the public health dangers of climate change, the British Medical Association
argues in a report this week. They can also catalyse change in the rest of
the NHS and draw attention to the health benefits associated with greener
economic
activity and lifestyles, the BMA says. |
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