Climate change major threat to human health

A new medical report compiled by researchers at the University College London has pinpointed climate change as the largest threat to human health in the current 21st century.

Published in The Lancet, the report details that human death tolls will rise as a result of food and water shortages, improper sanitation, and disease that is a direct result of climate change.

Part of the problem, according to the medical report, is an increase in heat caused by shifting weather patterns as a result of climate change.

Higher temperatures make it much easier for pathogens and hygiene related illnesses to spread.

Commission leader, Professor Anthony Costello, stated that the report should clarify to the UK and the world that climate change has a much larger impact than just on marine areas and needs to be heavily studied or else humans will begin to see the results of climate change within their lifetime.

Even some older isolated illnesses, often considered restricted to third world countries, such as malaria and dengue fever, are expected to be larger problems across the world according to the report, as climate change will allow them to spread farther and more rapidly.

Heat will also affect food crops, and the production of food is expected to drop 17% per every 1C degree change per year, which will lead to massive food shortages.

It is expected that developing countries will feel the largest impact, even though they contribute the least to CO2 emissions, because they are more likely to already have food shortages and a lack of sanitation, thus becoming the breeding grounds for illness and pestilence.

The report also includes an increase in natural disasters such as droughts and floods, which are also the common result of high temperatures for a prolonged amount of time from climate change.