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.

[In_25_words_or_less]

They could as easily blame corn syrup. It was recently implicated in the increase in diabetes.

[Restorer]

It is a fact that asthma has increased at a huge rate over the last 30 years, and that the increase is continuing and even accelerating. Nobody really knows exactly why.

However, since most Americans spend 90%+ of their time inside, it is far more likely that the increase is related to changes in building construction and maintenance practices (creating different indoor environments) than that it is related to changes in the exterior climate.

[EEDUDE]

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

Same thing happened to me.

Guess we're just "cooler" now! And I was worried about being a boring old geezer....

[Oldeconomybuyer]

...a growing asthma epidemic...

I demand reparations for all asthma sufferers. /bs

[gingerky]

I have a son with asthma. I think diet does play a role in it. High fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated fats, additives and preservatives - it's hard to buy foods without these.

Researchers have found that fish oil helps some asthmatics. And walnuts.

[EEDUDE]

"They could as easily blame corn syrup. It was recently implicated in the increase in diabetes."

Interesting that you say that. Aspartame, the major non-sugar sweetener, causes a release of insulin when ingested but doesn't increase the level of sugar in the blood for the insulin to work on.

I've wondered about the instability of blood sugar levels this might cause and possible relationship to diabetes.

Well, guess I've used up my 25 words (for what it's worth).

[DrDavid]

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

I think it is actually dust mite feces. These live in our beds and it is central heating that has helped them flourish.

[CSM]

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

The first clue that their claims can not be verified! I thought the evil tobacco smokers were to blame for all ills sufferred by the children!

[Larry Lucido]

So, asthma is causing global warming? Ban asthmatics now!!

[AD from SpringBay]

As Ralph would affectionately say to Piggy, "Sucks to your ass mar."

[DrDavid]

WebMD Asthma information

Allergy is the primary cause of asthma. Chronic exposure to dust mite allergen can cause rhinitis, eczema and the bronchial hyper-reactivity characteristic of asthma. Clinical studies have further demonstrated that in both childhood and adult asthmatics, avoidance measures resulted in decreased asthmatic symptoms and a reduction in medication requirements.

Where is Global Warming, does it help the dust mites?

[Lee'sGhost]

Oh, I thought this meant that people who have asthma were CAUSING global warming.

[presidio9]

Don't those inhalers release CFC's? They're aerosol.

[big_Rob]

Could it be that we can diagnose asthma better now than we used to be able to? Our kids pediatrician said that many asthma cases were never identified as asthma, and never were treated as such.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[boris]

This temperature update presents the NASA satellite measurements of monthly temperature anomalies—the difference between the observed values and the 1979–1998 mean values. Global satellite measurements are made from a series of orbiting platforms that sense the average temperature in various atmospheric layers. Here, we present the lowest level, which matches nearly perfectly with the mean temperatures measured by weather balloons in the layer between 5,000 and 28,000 feet. The satellite measurements are considered accurate to within 0.01°C and provide more uniform coverage of the entire globe than surface measurements, which tend to concentrate over land.

April 2003: The global average temperature departure was 0.14°C; the Northern Hemisphere temperature departure was 0.25°C; and the Southern Hemisphere departure was 0.03°C.

Below: Monthly satellite temperatures for the Northern Hemisphere (top) and Southern Hemisphere (bottom). Trend lines indicate statistically significant changes only.

[mewzilla]

I've heard particulates from woodstoves, too. I know folks who've had to stop using their woodstoves because of the kids' asthma. Gee, guess global warming could only help that.

Seriously, though, we've had family members with pulmonmary problems. I know this isn't funny. But dragging in the global warming BS is not helpful to finding cures and treatments.

[Toddsterpatriot]

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.

Most allergens are released by the rain forest.

Destroy the rain forest now!!! Do it for the children.

[Rocky]

Yesterday, it was con trails. Today, it's asthma. Will this idiocy never stop? These "scientists" who are milking global warming for their own gain or to promote their own anti-capitalist views should be ashamed of themselves.

My opinion of scientists has gone down a whole bunch in the last few years, seeing how they treat new ideas that don't fit with their accepted dogma, and how they use the cover of science to promote political or social objectives, I find myself not trusting anything that comes out of the mouth of a "so-called" scientist.

[Ditter]

Asthma *should* be pretty easy for anyone to diagnose. Put your ear on their chest & listen for the wheezing.