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Medical Journals Call for Urgent Climate Action
Medpage Today ^ | September 7, 2021 | Kristina Fiore

Posted on 09/08/2021 11:10:48 AM PDT by nickcarraway

— Over 200 public health, medical journals around the world publish editorial on "climate crisis" by Kristina Fiore, Director of Enterprise & Investigative Reporting, MedPage Today September 7, 2021

In an unprecedented move, medical journals from around the world have simultaneously published an op-ed calling for urgent action on climate change.

Written by 17 medical journal editors, along with two additional co-authors, the op-ed was published Sunday in more than 220 public health and medical journals, according to the U.K. Health Alliance on Climate Change, which coordinated the publication.

Authors include Eric Rubin, MD, PhD, of the New England Journal of Medicine; Richard Horton, MD, of The Lancet; and Fiona Godlee, MD, of The BMJ.

"The environment and health are inextricably intertwined. The changing climate is endangering us in many ways, including its critical impacts on health and healthcare delivery," Rubin said in a statement. "As medical and public health practitioners, we have an obligation not only to anticipate new healthcare needs but also to be active participants in limiting the causes of the climate crisis."

The op-ed comes ahead of the U.N. General Assembly meeting, beginning on September 14, and the subsequent COP26 (Conference of Parties) meeting in Glasgow, Scotland in November, which will focus on a global climate treaty.

Last month, the U.N. and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report warning of the impending climate emergency, stating that there is no way to undo previous damage and prevent extreme weather from getting worse over the next 30 years. At the time, the healthcare community called on the federal government to implement policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The new editorial calls for "urgent action to keep average global temperature increases below 1.5ºC, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health."

The writers note that health is already being harmed by global temperature increases. For instance, in the past 20 years, heat-related mortality among people over age 65 has risen by more than 50% as higher temperatures have brought increased dehydration and renal function loss, as well as dermatological malignancies, tropical infections, adverse mental health outcomes, pregnancy complications, allergies, and cardiovascular and pulmonary morbidity and mortality.

Harms have disproportionately affected "the most vulnerable, including children, older populations, ethnic minorities, poorer communities, and those with underlying health problems," the op-ed states.

Climate change has also hampered efforts to fight malnutrition and related issues by chipping away at water and food security. It has also increased the chance of pandemics, the editorialists wrote.

They say the science is "unequivocal: a global increase of 1.5ºC above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse."

A photo composite of a tornado next to an arid hot urban scene with a highway running between. In an unprecedented move, medical journals from around the world have simultaneously published an op-ed calling for urgent action on climate change.

Written by 17 medical journal editors, along with two additional co-authors, the op-ed was published Sunday in more than 220 public health and medical journals, according to the U.K. Health Alliance on Climate Change, which coordinated the publication.

Authors include Eric Rubin, MD, PhD, of the New England Journal of Medicine; Richard Horton, MD, of The Lancet; and Fiona Godlee, MD, of The BMJ.

"The environment and health are inextricably intertwined. The changing climate is endangering us in many ways, including its critical impacts on health and healthcare delivery," Rubin said in a statement. "As medical and public health practitioners, we have an obligation not only to anticipate new healthcare needs but also to be active participants in limiting the causes of the climate crisis."

The op-ed comes ahead of the U.N. General Assembly meeting, beginning on September 14, and the subsequent COP26 (Conference of Parties) meeting in Glasgow, Scotland in November, which will focus on a global climate treaty.

Last month, the U.N. and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report warning of the impending climate emergency, stating that there is no way to undo previous damage and prevent extreme weather from getting worse over the next 30 years. At the time, the healthcare community called on the federal government to implement policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The new editorial calls for "urgent action to keep average global temperature increases below 1.5ºC, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health."

The writers note that health is already being harmed by global temperature increases. For instance, in the past 20 years, heat-related mortality among people over age 65 has risen by more than 50% as higher temperatures have brought increased dehydration and renal function loss, as well as dermatological malignancies, tropical infections, adverse mental health outcomes, pregnancy complications, allergies, and cardiovascular and pulmonary morbidity and mortality.

Harms have disproportionately affected "the most vulnerable, including children, older populations, ethnic minorities, poorer communities, and those with underlying health problems," the op-ed states.

Climate change has also hampered efforts to fight malnutrition and related issues by chipping away at water and food security. It has also increased the chance of pandemics, the editorialists wrote.

They say the science is "unequivocal: a global increase of 1.5ºC above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse."

The world can't wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to end to take action, the authors state, and wealthy nations need to do more to help.

"Countries that have disproportionately created the environmental crisis must do more to support low- and middle-income countries to build cleaner, healthier, and more resilient societies," the authors wrote. Wealthier nations need to go beyond their promise of providing $100 billion a year in aid, making up for any shortfall from 2020 and boosting contributions beyond 2025, the editorial added.

Healthcare professionals should also do what they can to contribute to the prevention of further damage, hold global leaders accountable, and educate others about the health risks of the climate crisis, the op-ed stated. Healthcare professionals should also contribute to efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable health systems before 2040, "recognizing that this will mean changing clinical practice."


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: climatechange; globlwarming; medicaljournals
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1 posted on 09/08/2021 11:10:48 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

The best way to save the planet is to kill as many people as possible—good to know what the medical community has planned for us...


2 posted on 09/08/2021 11:12:05 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: nickcarraway

I noticed that people who are failing at their own careers always think they know how to fix everybody else’s problems.


3 posted on 09/08/2021 11:12:52 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods ( comment might be sarcasm, or not. It depends. Often I'm not sure either.)
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To: nickcarraway

Oh good, yet another reason to hold the once reputable medical journals in contempt :-/


4 posted on 09/08/2021 11:14:29 AM PDT by Bobalu (Those upset about a 6 week abortion ban are also upset about a 9 month abortion ban.)
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To: nickcarraway
Stay in your lane Bro....

Medicine and Religion have no business pretending authority on this fabrication of rabid, godless, Marxist, environmentalists.

5 posted on 09/08/2021 11:15:06 AM PDT by G Larry (Those destroying the Constitution must demonize those who would defend it.)
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To: Bobalu

I saw the Lancet in there, and tossed the entire thing intellectually into the trash.

Actually, not quite. I saw “Medical Journals Call for Urgent Climate Action” and threw it intellectually into the trash.

Must be precise.


6 posted on 09/08/2021 11:18:11 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists are The Droplet of Sewage in a gallon of ultra-pure clean water.)
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To: nickcarraway

Read it. All garbage. But at least it’s orchestrated garbage.


7 posted on 09/08/2021 11:18:49 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard (resist the narrative.)
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To: Bobalu

We now have a de facto NHS ready to say and/or do anything to keep their paychecks coming.

Clap for carers!


8 posted on 09/08/2021 11:20:14 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: nickcarraway

s o . m u c h . i g n o r a n c e

s o . l i t t l e . t i m e

l e f t i s t . i d e o l o g y . d e s t r o y s

i t . k i l l s


9 posted on 09/08/2021 11:22:07 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (On the backs of Joseph Stolen and future Lessident Harris, the Democrat party should evaporate.)
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To: nickcarraway

Take this as definite confirmation that the marxists control almost everything.


10 posted on 09/08/2021 11:22:57 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘𐡏⁻ )
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To: nickcarraway

“in the past 20 years, heat-related mortality among people over age 65 has risen by ...”

Maybe cold-related mortality has gone down.

“have disproportionately affected “the most vulnerable ...”

So would global cooling probably.

” science is “unequivocal: a global increase of 1.5ºC above the pre-industrial average ...

Science here is definitely not unequivocal.


11 posted on 09/08/2021 11:23:50 AM PDT by cymbeline
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To: nickcarraway

Stick to medical practice you will live past the “end of the world” as expressed by AOC.


12 posted on 09/08/2021 11:24:34 AM PDT by Liaison (TANSTAAFL)
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To: nickcarraway

I remember hearing that some doctors wanted to consider gun violence as a public health emergency.

If we go down this road, then everything can be considered to impact some nebulous definition of public health.


13 posted on 09/08/2021 11:25:21 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: nickcarraway

Let me know when China spends the 100 trillion to clean up their economy and country.


14 posted on 09/08/2021 11:25:52 AM PDT by 1Old Pro (Let's make crime illegal again!)
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To: nickcarraway

That does it, next time I need a prescription I’m calling the guy who does the weather on channel 7.


15 posted on 09/08/2021 11:27:39 AM PDT by bigbob
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To: nickcarraway

The people who issue the grants, control what research (IF ANY) gets done.

No research = no papers.

No papers = no journals.

The people controlling grant issuance will decide what results they want.


16 posted on 09/08/2021 11:28:13 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (Everything that’s been achieved in the history of mankind has been achieved by not being safe.)
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To: nickcarraway

Government and foundation monies are tied to Climate change and so is the green business world that expects to reap big dollars from contracts in new energy and carbon credit trading (for example see Al Gore’s group of investors.) there are issues but the monetary rewards are too great to filter out the bias of many of these journals and doctors.


17 posted on 09/08/2021 11:30:28 AM PDT by Liaison (TANSTAAFL)
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To: nickcarraway

If climate change exists (I don’t believe in it), then recent studies confirmed that 23 out of the top 25 polluting cities in the world are in China. The USA is far down the list with a polluting city, perhaps at number 41 on the list.

The answer is simple - shut down China.


18 posted on 09/08/2021 11:38:07 AM PDT by roadcat
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To: nickcarraway

MORE proof the medical profession is eat up with commies. As if the Plandemic wasn’t enough proof.


19 posted on 09/08/2021 11:39:41 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (But what do I know? I'm just a backwoods engineer.)
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To: nickcarraway
Stick to medicine, leave climate science to the climate scientists. (*) You don't want me trying to help with a diagnosis, or a surgical procedure. We don't care to hear your take on things you're no better informed or trained on than the rest of us. Stay in your swim lane, or we'll start coming into yours.


* I do recognize there is a fundamental problem with this. It would appear that most (all?) climate scientists have been co-opted by professional/financial pressures into one of two camps and that real science in this area has taken a back seat. Maybe even a third or fourth row seat... Adding more outside voices and pressures following agendas rather than science is not going to improve the situation.
20 posted on 09/08/2021 11:53:54 AM PDT by ThunderSleeps (Biden/Harris - illegitimate and everyone knows it.)
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