Climate Change Threatens Human Health

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) are calling for a national response to one of the world's most significant environmental threats - climate change and its effect on human health.

Speaking today at the launch of their joint report, Climate Change Health Impacts in Australia: Effects of Dramatic CO2 Emission Reductions, ACF President, Professor Ian Lowe, and AMA President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, said global warming is already contributing to more frequent and extreme weather conditions.

The report, written by leading world experts on climate change from Australia and New Zealand, exposes the damage already done and paints a picture of what we might expect in the future if no action is taken.

The report says if we continue to allow emissions to increase, by 2100 up to 15,000 Australians could die every year from heat related illnesses and the dengue transmission zone could reach as far south as Brisbane and Sydney.

In contrast, early and significant action to reduce greenhouse pollution would have major health benefits