WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Climate change should be treated as a public health issue, especially by the United States, the world’s biggest long-term emitter of greenhouse gases, health and ecology experts said on Tuesday.
An Earth transformed by climate change could lead to more climate-related diseases, especially those transmitted by insects and those borne by water supplies, the experts said at a meeting of the American Public Health Association.
The United States and other rich countries bear special responsibility because their climate-warming emissions will have a disproportionate impact on poor countries that emit the least and have the fewest resources to deal with public health problems, said Jonathan Patz of the University of Wisconsin.