Climate change could be detrimental to global health, conference attendees say

Environmental health experts, scientists and government officials attending a conference in London sponsored by the British Medical Journal on Monday "issued a statement warning that climate change could not only bring a global health catastrophe but could threaten global stability and security as well, a journal release said," UPI.com reports (10/17).

"Increased hunger due to food yield changes will lead to malnutrition; water scarcity will deteriorate hygiene; pollution will weaken immune systems; and displacement and social disorder due to conflicts over water and land will increase the spread of infectious diseases, they said," Reuters writes (Chestney, 10/17). According to AlertNet, the group "urged governments around the world to tackle climate change, and asked that the E.U. immediately adopt a 30 percent CO2 greenhouse reduction target by 2020" (Murray, 10/17).