On April 4, the White House released a scientific assessment, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States, examining how climate change is already affecting human health today, and may also affect it in the future. It includes nine sections: climate change and human health, temperature-air quality impacts, impacts of extreme events on human health, vector-borne diseases, impacts on water-related illnesses, food safety, mental health and well-being and populations of concern.
The development of the report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program involved eight federal agencies, led by U.S. EPA. The report was developed as part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. A White House fact sheet about the report cites several potential health impacts due to climate change. These include: an increase in the number of premature deaths due to extreme heat; an increase in risks of water-related illnesses in recreational waters and drinking water due to increased water temperatures and extreme precipitation events; and an increase in the exposure of food to certain pathogens and toxins also due to higher temperatures and extreme events.
"I don't know that we've seen something like this before, where you have a force that has such a multitude of effects and can affect health through so many different angles," said Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General. "As far as history is concerned, this is a new type of threat that we're facing."
AMWA submitted comments on the draft report in June 2015, and several appear to have been considered in the revision of the document. For example, the final document now includes appendices explaining how uncertainty was documented in the assessment and how the report was researched and peer reviewed by the National Academies. Section 4, the Impacts of Extreme Events on Human Health, was revised to better explain health risks related to infrastructure in the context of cascading events. Concerns raised in AMWA’s comments about attributing the Milwaukee Cryptosporidium outbreak in 1993 to climate change were addressed. In addition, Section 6, Climate Impacts on Water-Related Illness, separates the discussion of impacts to drinking water from that of impacts to recreational waters and also notes the difference between treated community water systems and private drinking water wells. Section 6 also discusses the potential impacts of climate-related water shortages on alternative water supplies, such as rainwater harvesting and potable reuse.
Along with releasing the report, the White House also announced several new public health initiatives aimed at addressing climate-related public health risks. These include expanding the scope of a presidential task force on childhood risks to include climate change, developing educational materials on climate and health, and announcing May 23-27 as Extreme Heat Week, when the Administration will reach out to health officials and vulnerable populations to enhance preparedness for extreme heat events.