The Health Effects of Climate Change

Last week, Julie Gerberding, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, addressed the Senate on the health impact of global warming. But the news emerged recently that her planned speech had been drastically cut down by White House editors.

The Senate did not, for example, hear her say that people in the Midwest and Northeast are expected to experience more heat-related illnesses as heat waves increase, or that the public health effects of climate change basically haven't been addressed. Presidential science adviser John Marburger responded to the resulting criticism, noting points on which he and his staff believed that Gerberding's conclusions drifted from the scientific consensus.

But another prominent scientist, University of Wisconsin Professor Jonathan Patz, insists that her original testimony was scientifically accurate, and, more importantly, that we need to start dealing with the fact that climate change poses serious health risks. Read his unsettling conclusions here.—Gregory Mone