Climate change increases the risks of allergies and asthma, heat-related deaths, Lyme disease, waterborne illness, and food contamination by pathogens and toxins, according to a report issued Monday by the Obama administration on the impacts of climate change on human health in the U.S. “Current and future climate impacts expose more people in more places to public health threats. Already in the United States, we have observed climate-related increases in our exposure to elevated temperatures; more frequent, severe, or longer-lasting extreme events; degraded air quality; diseases transmitted through food, water, and disease vectors (such as ticks and mosquitoes); and stresses to our mental health and well-being,” a White House fact sheet says.
The report was developed under President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan with input from roughly 100 experts in climate change science and public health, including representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, the Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
