Asthma linked to global warming, experts say

CTV.ca ^ | Fri. Apr. 30 2004

[presidio9]

The health of millions of children worldwide is threatened by global warming and air pollution. The world's poorest kids are at highest risk, experts say, of getting caught in a growing asthma epidemic.

In a report released Thursday, researchers at the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment said the warming global climate is releasing more allergens into the air.

Once floating in the sky, the allergens combine with pollutants such as ozone and soot, resulting in a recipe for a health crisis.

"The combination of air pollutants, aeroallergens, heat waves and unhealthy air masses -- increasingly associated with a changing climate -- causes damage to the respiratory systems, particularly growing children," Harvard's Dr. Paul Epstein told a news conference.

Hardest hit will be children from "poor and minority groups in the inner cities" where the effects of automobile emissions are worst.

"These children get hit with a powerful one-two punch: exposure to the worst air quality problems and the additional allergen exposure arising from global warming," Harvard School of Public Health researcher Christine Rogers said in a statement.

According to the report, "Inside the Greenhouse: The Impacts of CO2 and Climate Change on Public Health in the Inner City," the effects can already be seen among American preschoolers.

The rate of asthma among kids age 3 to 5 grew by 160 per cent between 1980 and 1994 -- more than double the rate reported among the general population.

Figures like that, experts say, should shock people.

"This is a real wake-up call for people who think global warming is only going to be a problem way off in the future or that it has no impact on their lives in a meaningful way," Rogers said.

Something can be done to help those most at risk of this looming epidemic, Epstein told reporters.

"Green" buildings with rooftop gardens, improved public transportation and promotion of hybrid vehicles that rely less on fossil fuels would all reduce the exacerbating factors, he said.

Asthma is a chronic lung condition characterized by sometimes severe difficulty breathing. Common symptoms include wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and chest tightness

According to the Canadian Lung Association, approximately one in 10 children in Canada suffer from asthma. About 20 children and 500 adults die of the disease each year.

[cardinal4]

In other news, the sun has been linked to Global Warming..

[jpl]

More junk science Bravo Sierra.

[smith288]

I had asthma when I was younger and has faded away completely with age... How does one explain that relative to global warming?

[mewzilla]

I heard it was due to exposure to cockroach feces. Really.

[Piquaboy]

Everybody knows that global warming is caused by cow farts and President Bush.

[Dan from Michigan]

BS. Ashtma is inherited. I have it. Some of my cousins have it. Some of my aunts and uncles have it. My grandmother used to have it.

[KarlInOhio]

Let me see: Global warming leads to more allergens. It doesn't say what they are, but if more heat and carbon dioxide lead to it, I would have to assume that they are taling about an increase in plants and especially their pollen.

But one of their cures is:

Something can be done to help those most at risk of this looming epidemic, Epstein told reporters.

"Green" buildings with rooftop gardens,

Maybe they can plant some ferns or something else without pollen.

[KarlInOhio]

How much of the increase is caused by overly sensitive immune systems because the children didn't have to fight childhood diseases because they were immunized? Overall, I would rather take my chances with asthma than whooping cough.

[ScaniaBoy]

More asthma and allergy in northern Sweden with its clean, cold air than in the southren parts including cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo.

Less incidence of asthma in Poland where brown coal is major fuel (major pollution source) than in Western Europe.

Lots of facts to explain...

[marktwain]

They dignify this speculation with the title "Research"?? These people should be laughed out of Harvard, or Harvard will be laughed at. It used to be a great University, before it was completely taken over by the radical left and political correctness.

[cspackler]

In other breaking news, I'm blaming global warming for my oversized a$$...

[EGPWS]

Let's stop beating around the bush and save bandwidth!

Everything evil and unwanted in the world is caused by the US and global warming....

[John Will]

It seems MIT is the only decent elite school left.

[Dog Anchor]

Allergies have been linked to Dick Cheney and Halliburton...

[capt. norm]

Global warming also causes:
hangnails
unsightly nose-hair
bad hair days
traffic jams
liberalism
tooth decay
and Elmer Fudd Syndrome (where you pronounce things like "wascawy wabbit"

[EGPWS]

Allergies have been linked to Dick Cheney and Halliburton...

I knew it, I just knew it!

Eventually somebody would finally hit common sense pay dirt and realize how wide spread and deep the destruction left by Halliburton really is! ; )

[Always Right]

Hardest hit will be children from "poor and minority groups in the inner cities"....

ROTFL...can't the Democrats come up with a new line. Earth is destroyed, hardest hit are poor and minoriries.....

[EGPWS]

unsightly nose-hair

OK, NOW my quest for more in depth information on "global warming" will be relentless!

[eggman]

Research used to be about gathering the data necessary to prove a theory. Now it is about producing enough propaganda to increase funding to perpetuate the research.