Climate Change & Human Health

Climate Change, Tropospheric Ozone and Particulate Matter, and Health Impacts (http://www.ehponline.org/members/2008/11463/11463.pdf)   (378 KB)

Author:
Kristie L. Ebi
ESS, LLC

Figure 1: Changes in greenhouse gas concentrations and other drivers change our global climate altering the human; mitigation alters climate and both mitigation and adaptation alter the human environment; the predominant impact on human health is through environmental changes as a result of climate change although there are direct impacts from both climate changes and mitigation/adaptation.

The world's climate scientists have reached consensus that climate change is occurring around the world and at a more rapid pace than predicted even 10 years ago, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report, 2007 (http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.htm). With these changes, the planet is expected to warm, oceans are expected to become more acidic, and extreme weather events, including heat waves, droughts, and hurricanes, are expected to become more frequent and severe.

Climate change is expected to have both direct and indirect impacts on human health. At the same time, the scientific community must recognize that global climate change will occur on a backdrop of issues of land use, agricultural practices, coastal mega-cities, and changing demographics.

Our understanding of the links between climate change and adverse human health impacts is increasing, but many knowledge gaps remain. The NIEHS is engaged in multiple activities with other federal agencies, international research and policy organizations, academia, and nongovernmental organization stakeholders to identify these knowledge gaps, craft research agenda to address them, communicate findings, and work with decision makers to incorporate this information into sound health policy and actions. Our activities in this area seek to:

• Raise awareness and create new partnerships to advance key areas of health research and knowledge development
• Serve as an authoritative source of information on climate change, energy, and health, and to assist scientists, health professionals, community stakeholders, and others who wish to engage in this arena

Activities

Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health

The Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health (IWGCCH) is an effort to develop a strategic plan for basic and applied research on the human health effects of climate change for use by federal agencies and institutes with a human and environmental health mission. The aim of this project is to look at all aspects of the health implications of climate change, using the diverse legislative mandates of multiple federal agencies to cover the entire spectrum of research that would need to be done to address direct health effects, as well as health effects of mitigation and adaptation efforts. The IWGCCH is comprised of subject matter experts representing these agencies: NIEHS, NIH, CDC, EPA, USDA, NOAA, USGCRP/UCAR, and U.S. Department of State.

The IWGCCH will:

• Identify research needs on the health effects of climate change including direct effects, effects of mitigation, and effects of adaptation choices and efforts;
• Categorize research needs by topic area¬Asthma, Respiratory Allergies, and Airway Disease; Cancer; Cardiovascular Disease & Stroke; Foodborne Disease and Nutrition; Heat-Related Effects; Human Development; Mental Health and Stress-Related Diseases; Neurological Diseases; Waterborne Diseases, Weather-Related Illness and Injury; Vectorborne and Zoonotic Diseases;
• Summarize the knowledge that currently exists regarding each of these health effects research needs, including cross-cutting issues;
• Identify appropriate federal resources and capacities that may be used to address specific research needs and areas;
• Provide commentary and recommendations on each of the categories and on incorporation of this information into federal research agendas.

The Interagency Working Group will produce a white paper for distribution within federal scientific agencies to inform their efforts to maximize resources and create individual strategic plans to address the health effects of climate change in keeping with their specific missions. This white paper is currently in final revision.

The Project on Climate Change Mitigation and Public Health

Quantification of the health effects of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies by indicating the magnitude of potential near-term health benefits and harms associated with a given strategy is essential to development of evidence-based policies. The aim of the Project on Climate Change Mitigation and Public Health is to quantify the population health consequences (both positive and negative) of key policy choices aimed at climate change mitigation in each of four sectors: energy, housing/built environment, transport, and food/agriculture. This aim is being accomplished by an international consortium of expert scientists convened by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The Consortium will:

• Define the critical policy choices for mitigation arising in each of the four sectors in both high- and low-income countries, and the parameters within which those choices are constrained;
• Delineate the critical pathways by which such choices have effects on population health, encompassing both direct and indirect mechanisms;
• Develop quantitative models of these health effects, and illustrate them by application to hypothetical populations representative of high- and low-income country settings;
• Provide more detailed illustrative case studies (one per sector) of the positive and negative health effects of specific mitigation policy choices/interventions; and
• Provide detailed commentary on the apparent trade-offs for health of policy choices in each of the sectors, the key areas of uncertainty, the needs for further research, and the range of further questions necessary for addressing key global priorities.

The Consortium will produce a report by to inform the discussions at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. The final report of the Consortium will guide policy makers in deciding the most appropriate mix of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies for different socioeconomic settings. The findings of this project will be published in The Lancet on 25 November 2009, and released in a joint US-UK scientific policy event. See www.niehs.nih.gov/climatechange for more information.

EPA-HHS White House Stakeholder Briefing: The Public Health Benefits of Clean Energy Reform

Clean energy reform holds the promise of reducing harmful pollution at the same time that it creates new jobs, reduces America’s dependence on oil, and improves the nation’s competitive position in the global economy. This event, held 19 November 2009, brought together public health advocates and community leaders from around the country to discuss the ways that clean energy reform can yield immediate and lasting public health benefits. NIEHS staff participated in this event, and follow up plans are being made to further collaborate with other federal agencies and stakeholders in this area.

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Agenda:

10:00am - Plenary Session: Public Health Benefits of Clean Energy Reform
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

11:00am - Introduction to the Breakout Sessions: Measuring Public Health Benefits
HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh
EPA Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy

12:00pm - Breakout Sessions

1. Health Benefits of Clean Energy
   • Gina McCarthy, Assistant Administrator for Office of Air and Radiation, EPA
   • Linda Birnbaum, Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, HHS, Text of Dr. Birnbaum's remarks (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/programs/climatechange/docs/linda-comments-white-house.pdf)   (160 KB)
   
   
2. Health Impact of Vehicular Emissions and Transportation
   • Lisa Heinzerling, Associate Administrator for Policy, Economics, and Innovation, EPA
   • Roger Glass, Director, Fogarty International Center, HHS
   
   
3. Healthy and Resilient Communities
   • Thomas Frieden, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS
   • Peter Silva, Assistant Administrator for Office of Water, EPA

1:15pm - Wrap-Up Session: Building a Clean Energy Economy Together

2:00pm – Adjourn

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)

The NIEHS participates as one of 13 principals in the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) (http://www.globalchange.gov/). The USGCRP coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (http://www.globalchange.gov/about/program-structure/global-change-research-act) (P.L. 101-606), which called for "a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change." Since its inception, the USGCRP has supported research and observational activities in collaboration with several other national and international science programs.

Scientific & Support Staff

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