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Pregnancy becomes a more vulnerable time with climate change
Wildfires, natural disasters, rising heat because of climate change can lead to poor health outcomes for pregnant people and babies.
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Heat waves may be bad for your pregnancy
Each one-degree Celsius increase in temperature was associated with a 5 percent increase in preterm birth and a 5 percent increase in stillbirth.
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Climate change tied to pregnancy risks, affecting Black mothers most
Women exposed to high temperatures or air pollution are more likely to have premature, underweight or stillborn babies, a look at 32 million U.S. births found.
He saw a Marshall Islands nuclear bomb test up close. It’s haunted him since 1952
After watching an island get vaporized, Alan Jones and the crew on the Horizon were doused in a shower of radioactive fallout.
Health of more than 90 percent of world's population affected by air pollution 'emergency', WHO says.
More than nine out of every 10 people on the planet live in areas where air pollution breaches official safety limits – and millions of people are dying as a result.
More than nine out of every 10 people on the planet live in areas where air pollution breaches official safety limits – and millions of people are dying as a result, according to new research by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
An interactive map produced by WHO shows vast areas of the world are bathed in tiny particles from pollutants such as sulphate, nitrates and black carbon, which can penetrate deep into the lungs and beyond, leading to an array of deadly diseases. China, India, eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa are among the worst affected regions.
Heart attacks, strokes and lung cancer can all be caused by the particles, known as PM2.5 and PM10, which also increase the risk of getting an acute respiratory infection.
The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths (graphic by statista) (WHO/statista)
While some of the dust is natural in places like the Sahara, much comes from the burning of fossil fuels, also the cause of global warming.
Almost all of England is above the WHO safety limit with places where the air is considered safe to breathe largely confined to the rural north-west and parts of Cornwall and Devon.
By contrast the vast majority of Scotland’s air is below the limits, except for the Central Belt, particularly Glasgow. Northern Ireland is also largely clear, apart from Belfast and a strip down the east coast.
In pictures: High air pollution levels across the UK
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Air pollution – indoor and outdoor – was linked to the deaths of some 6.5 million people worldwide in 2012, representing more than 11 per cent of all deaths and making it one of the greatest threats to human health.
Of those three million were “solely attributable” to the quality of outdoor air. The WHO said an estimated 16,355 British people died in that year as a direct result of outdoor air pollution.
Dr Flavia Bustreo, assistant director general at the WHO, said: “For people to be healthy, they must breathe clean air from their first breath to their last.”
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The report, Ambient air pollution: A global assessment of exposure and burden of disease, admitted there were “significant uncertainties” in the data about air pollution but said the report represented “the best evidence available to date”.
But one thing appears clear – just how bad breathing polluted air is for human health.
Writing in the report, Dr Maria Neira, director of public health at the WHO, said: “Air pollution has become a growing a growing concern in the past few years, with an increasing number of acute air pollution episodes in many cities worldwide.
“To date, air pollution – both ambient (outdoor) and household (indoor) – is the biggest environmental risk to health, carrying responsibility for about one in every nine deaths annually.
“Ambient air pollution alone kills around 3 million people each year, mainly from non-communicable diseases. Only one person in ten lives in a city that complies with the WHO air quality guidelines.
“Air pollution continues to rise at an alarming rate, and affects economies and people’s quality of life; it is a public health emergency.”
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Air pollution in UK ‘wreaking havoc on human health', WHO warns
British Lung Foundation chief executive Dr Penny Woods said: "These figures show a depressing picture of deaths due to air pollution exposure, impacting on general respiratory health.
"The fact that so many deaths a year are recorded in the EU, shows we need urgent action to improve pollution levels.
"That is why the British Lung Foundation believes we must all play a part in reducing harmful pollution, working with other organisations who also want action to improve air quality now. We can do this by ensuring parliament brings in a new Clean Air Act, and creating carefully designed clean air zones in air pollution hot spots across the UK."
James Thornton, chief executive of ClientEarth, a group of lawyers which campaigns on legal issues, said: “While air pollution is mostly invisible, these figures show that many of us living in Britain are breathing in unhealthy levels of it.
“In the UK and several other European countries we are using the courts to force governments to uphold our right to clean air. Air pollution is causing a public health crisis in many countries across the world. This can only be overcome with swift, strong actions from governments and industry alike.”
More about: Air PollutionWHOWorld Health Organisation
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Singapore Zika cases rise to 56 at one construction site; Malaysia starts border screening.
Global health officials stepped up defensive measures against Zika over the weekend as the virus continued to expand its reach at a rapid pace.
Global health officials stepped up defensive measures against Zika over the weekend as the virus continued to expand its reach at a rapid pace.
Singapore reported one of the largest single clusters outside the Americas, confirming 56 infections, mostly among foreign workers at a construction site. On Monday, inspectors armed with insecticide were visiting high-rise public housing buildings to look at toilets and other areas for stagnant water, according to Agence France-Presse.
The outbreak in the city-state of Singapore, a hub for Southeast Asia, has alarmed its neighbors. Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam have each seen a case of Zika and have been concerned that the infections might be spreading locally but have not been able to confirm whether that is the case.
In the past 48 hours, Taiwan has issued a travel advisory for Singapore, and Malaysia ordered thermal screening at checkpoints for travelers who enter from Singapore by bus.
Subramaniam Sathasivam, Malaysia’s health minister, said at a news conference that 150,000 to 200,000 people commute between Johor in Malaysia and Singapore each day.
“The risk is imminent,” he said, according to Singapore's Straits Times. “The main thing is to reduce the risk of the virus spreading to others.”
On the opposite side of the world, Disney World, Universal, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and other theme parks in Florida said Sunday that they would begin distributing free insect repellent to visitors.
Gov. Rick Scott’s office told the Orlando Sentinel that he had “talked to many of the attractions and theme parks. He’s held multiple conference calls with Visit Florida and tourism leaders to make them aware of things they can do. He appreciates all of these businesses doing this.”
U.S. cities still hundreds of miles away from the current mosquito-borne outbreaks, which have so far been limited to Florida and Puerto Rico, began spraying densely populated areas to try to ward off mosquitoes for as long as possible. Baltimore advised residents of some neighborhoods to stay indoors after 10 p.m. Sunday to avoid being exposed to mosquito-killing spray from trucks, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after finding Zika in blood that had been donated by someone in Florida, began efforts to screen the entire country’s blood supply for the virus. In a separate action, regulators issued an emergency-use authorization for Swiss drugmaker Roche’s molecular diagnostic test for Zika. Samples from patients with fever, rash and other symptoms of the virus can now be sent to a lab that can use Roche’s technology to rapidly test for infection.
In a statement, the company reaffirmed its “commitment to help healthcare professionals who are working to combat this serious disease.”
Zika first drew the alarm of public health officials because of its link to thousands of babies with severe birth defects in Brazil. The virus is now actively spreading in 51 countries.
In the United States, there have been at least six miscarriages, stillbirths or abortions due to birth defects that appeared to be related to the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in mid-August that 17 babies infected with the virus in utero had been born with microcephaly, a condition defined by an abnormally small head and often serious brain damage.
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