Climate change expected to raise public health risks, White House says

Extreme temperatures linked to climate change can be expected to cause a significant increase in the number of premature deaths, according to a report released by the Obama administration.

“Extreme heat can be expected to cause an increase in the number of premature deaths, from thousands to tens of thousands, each summer, which will outpace projected decreases in deaths from extreme cold,” the fact sheet stated.

“One model projected an increase, from a 1990 baseline for more than 200 American cities, of more than an additional 11,000 deaths during the summer in 2030 and more than an additional 27,000 deaths during the summer in 2100,” the fact sheet said.

The summary of the climate change report, titled “The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment,” states that climate change is “a significant threat to the American people” and that the findings in the report “represent an improvement in scientific confidence in the link between climate change and a broad range of threats to public health.”

Agencies/Canadajournal