Reports find health problems tied to climate change are worsening

Health problems tied to climate change are getting worse, according to two reports published Wednesday (Source: “Reports: Health problems tied to global warming on the rise,” Associated Press, Oct. 21).

The annual reports commissioned by the medical journal Lancet tracked 44 global health indicators connected to climate change, including heat deaths, infectious diseases and hunger. All of them are getting grimmer, said Lancet Countdown project research director Marina Romanello, a biochemist.

This year’s reports — one global, one just aimed at the United States — found that in the U.S., heat, fire and drought caused the biggest problems. An unprecedented Pacific Northwest and Canadian heat wave hit this summer, which a previous study showed couldn’t have happened without human-caused climate change.