Healthy Planet, Health People: Global Warming and Public Health

Examine Bush Admin. Avoidance of Health-Warming Links

On Wednesday, April 9, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming addressed the warming planet, and how climate change affects the health of her citizens. During a week where major public health bodies are calling attention to the links between an unhealthy planet and an unhealthy people, the hearing’s panel of scientists, practicing doctors, and public health professionals will describe the various ways climate change poses a serious public health threat.

Despite the international and national scientific consensus that climate change impacts public health, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has refused to state that heat-trapping carbon dioxide is a threat to public health.

The witnesses also address whether the United States has an unlimited capacity to adapt to this growing public health concern, or whether the only true preventative medicine is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and stop global warming.  

According to the World Health Organization, climate change is a significant and emerging threat to public health. The WHO estimates that changes in the Earth’s climate may have caused at least five million cases of illness and more than 150,000 deaths in 2000, and predict these impacts are likely to increase in the future. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) determined that climate change contributes to the global burden of disease, premature death and other adverse health impacts due to extreme weather events, changes in infectious disease patterns, air quality, quality and quantity of water and food. Adverse health impacts of climate change also include increases in heat stress, asthma, allergies and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

WHAT: Select Committee hearing: Healthy Planet, Health People: Global Warming and Public Health

WHERE: B-318 Rayburn House Office Building

WHEN: 10 AM, Wednesday, April 9

OPENING STATEMENT:
Chairman Edward J. Markey
Representative Hilda Solis

WITNESSES:
Howard Frumkin, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Center for Disease Control, Director of National Center for Environmental Health, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Jonathan Patz, M.D., M.P.H., Professor and Director of Global Environmental Health, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Georges Benjamin, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.E.P. (Emeritus), Executive Director, American Public Health Association

Mark Jacobson, Ph.D., Director, Atmosphere and Energy Program and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University

Dana Best, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.P., American Academy of Pediatrics

Click here for full hearing transcript

VIDEO:

Full video archive of hearing.

Rep. Solis questions to Frumkin and Jacobson.

Rep. Cleaver asks about health and the poor and seeks answers on the health impact from Katrina.

Rep. Inslee asks the CDC to clarify stance on greenhouse gases and air pollution.

Rep. Blumenauer opening statement.

Dana Best on placing the needs of children first when discussing global warming.

PHOTOS:

Reps Cleaver, Solis and Walden

The CDC's Frumkin

Jacobson, Frumkin, Benjamin, Best and Patz

Dana Best

Georges Benjamin

Mark Jacobson

Jonathan Patz

Rep. Cleaver asked the panel a question

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