CA: State to study global warming's link to heat-related ailments

Mercury News ^ | 8/3/06 | Paul Rogers

[NormsRevenge]

Expecting more heat-related deaths and health problems as global warming increases, California public health officials Wednesday announced a new plan to track heat-related fatalities and hospital visits over the next five years.

The $4.5 million study, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also will project how increased temperatures from global warming are expected to boosts deaths and illnesses in decades ahead, including asthma emergencies, heat stroke and heart attacks.

It is believed to be the first major statewide study in the nation examining the link between global warming and emergency room visits. The research will be coordinated by the California Department of Health Services, with help from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Environmental Protection Agency.

``I think global warming is going to have a very significant health effect,'' said Paul English, the Department of Health Services' principal environmental health investigator for the study.

``We're taking it very seriously,'' English said. ``The recent heat wave caught us unawares with so many deaths.''

From July 17 to 29, a heat wave caused as many as 164 deaths in California, according to a survey of county health officers by the Associated Press. Most were people over 65, particularly in the Central Valley, where temperatures exceeded 110 degrees.

The Bay Area also sweltered, with tens of thousands of customers losing power when electrical transformers overheated. San Jose experienced 10 days in a row of temperatures over 90 degrees, an all-time record that taxed hospitals.

[pissant]

Money down a rathole.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS HAVE DETERMINED THAT THEIR SALARIES DEPEND ON PLEASING POLITICIANS

[American Quilter]

The $4.5 million study, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention money taken from taxpayers against their will,...

Let's be accurate here.

[Dilbert56]

Lemme get this straight. The "global" temperature has gone up something like two degrees in the last century with the bulk of that jump coming before 1950. Somehow if it's 88 degrees instead of 86 degrees on a typical summer day we're all going to drop like flies. Riiiigggghhhhttt.

[DoughtyOne]

Since January 1st, I have seen an unmistakable rise in the average daily temperatures in my area. During that time, people have become sick, some of them very sick. People actually died during the recent heat wave. I realize people died in the two weeks before that heat wave too, but that was different...

There, the local leftist papers have their first paragraph for the next round of hand wringing.

[calcowgirl]

ROFL!

I love the sequence of numbers on the x-axis.