WASHINGTON (AP) - Global warming will affect the health and welfare of every
American, but the poor, elderly, and children will suffer the most, according to
a new White House science report released Thursday.
The 284-page report, mostly written by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, said every region of the country will be hit by worse health from heat
waves and drought. It said all but a handful of states would have worse air
quality and flooding. It predicts an increase in diseases spread by tainted
food, bad water and bugs.
The report "concludes that climate change poses real risk to human health
and human system that supports our way of life in the United States," EPA's
climate change research program director Joel Scheraga said at a news
conference.
Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil
fuels. At current emission levels, global temperatures are likely to rise by
about 2 degrees by midcentury and about 7.5 degrees by the end of the century,
according to an international panel of scientists.
Most of the ill effects of global warming have been mentioned in past
federal and international reports, but this report details how climate change
will "accentuate the disparities already evident in the American health care
system."
The most vulnerable Americans -- the poor, elderly, sick, very young, and
immigrants -- will suffer more, said Kristie Ebi, the lead author of the health
sections of the report and a private public health consultant. That's at least
10 percent of the country's population, probably more, she said.
It will be tougher for these people to get adequate health care for
climate-related illnesses, cool down in heat waves, escape extreme events such
as Hurricane Katrina, and even get enough food, the report said.
"Even in the United States, the greatest health burdens related to climate
change are likely to fall on those with the lowest socio-economic status," the
report said. And it notes that global warming poses "significant risks for the
elderly who often have frail health and limited mobility."
While every region of America is vulnerable to global warming's health and
welfare effects, more people are moving into coastal regions, which are most
vulnerable to climate change because of drought and hurricanes, the report said.
Scheraga said the report wasn't intended to make recommendations for curbing
global warming. Just last week, the EPA said it would not use the Clean Air Act
to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, even though the U.S. Supreme Court said it
could. The federal government does not regulate greenhouse gases.
This is one of 21 reports produced by the federal government's climate
change science program, which reports to the White House science office and taps
the expertise of various government agencies.
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