Download The Effects of Climate Change on Food Borne Diseases and Nutrition

THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FOODBORNE DISEASES
AND NUTRITION
Hannah Twombly ‘16 and Erin Griffin ‘16
ES 366A: The Environment and Human Health, Environmental Studies Program, Colby College, Waterville ME
The Problem
The implications of climate change on human health
are still unraveling and there is growing evidence to
suggest that rising global temperatures and extreme
weather events such as droughts and floods are
resulting in an increased incidence of malnutrition
and food- and waterborne diseases. These impacts
can be direct through extreme weather events or
indirect through ecological disruption like crop
failure1. Some health consequences include
diarrhea and liver cancer resulting from
consumption of food and waterborne pathogens2,3.
Prevention (CDC) found that droughts increase the
spread of molds and aflatoxin, a substance that can
contribute to the development of liver cancer in
people who eat contaminated corn and nuts. They
also found that the increased occurrence of crop
pests due to climate change can have indirect effects
on human health, encouraging greater usage of
herbicides and insecticides that have long-term health
effects on both farmers and consumers.5
Figure 3. Graphs predicting
future directions of climate
change and human health
impacts included in the
IPCC‘s fifth assessment
report “Climate Change
2014: Impacts, Adaptation,
and Vulnerability”.6 The
yellow bars represent the
level of risk for human
health with high levels of
adaptation to the problem,
and the red sectors
represent the potential for
adapting to the problem to
reduce risk. The width of
each sector illustrates its
importance relative to other
health burdens.6
Current Research
A case study in Beirut, Lebanon collected monthly
data on regional food- and waterborne disease
incidence and compared it with climate and
temperature data. They concluded that above a
threshold temperature increase of 19.2° C2 there
was an increase in water and foodborne diseases,
in this case multiple diarrheal infections. This study
projected that food- and waterborne disease
incidence in relation to temperature is expected to
nearly double by the year 2050.2
Current Policy
Figure 1. Reported cases
food- and waterborne
diseases as a result of
temperature rises 4.
Figure 2. Reported cases of food- and waterborne diseases
and corresponding temperature trends in Beirut, Lebanon.4
Another study revealed a connection between
climatic shifts and increased incidences of
waterborne diseases including diarrhea and kidney
failure developed through contaminated drinking
water, foodborne disease resulting from polluted
water, and eutrophication.3
An additional study reported an association between
disease outbreaks, particularly diarrhea, resulting
from pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella with
extreme precipitation events.4
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and
Current policy regarding foodborne disease and
climate change is limited and is regulated under
broader frameworks addressing all health impacts
resulting from global climate change.
The CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate
Effects (BRACE) Framework combines atmospheric
data and epidemiological analyses to develop
strategies to reduce health repercussions from climate
change. This process predicts climate impacts and
identifies future actions and vulnerable populations,
estimates future health burdens to improve decision
making, develops health adaptation plans for
individual departments, and evaluates the impact and
7
effectiveness of the framework.
In 2010 the WHO and the UNDP launched a global
project to adaptations to climate change that identifies
the ”best practices” for dealing with the health impacts
it presents and is carried out by individual countries
that develop practices most needed in their respective
regions. Fiji and Jordan have emphasized food
monitoring and Fiji has evience demonstrating that
food- and waterborne diarrheal diseases have the
potential the worsen with increasing climatic shifts.8
Conclusions
Weather shifts associated with climate change pose
serious threats to human health through increased
development of food- and waterborne diseases,
particularly diarrheal infections.
The U.S. Climate Change Science Program reports
that temperature rise and extreme weather events
will increase the risk of developing foodborne
diseases through pathogen ingestion.5 Droughts
have led to cancer development5 as well as
increases in agricultural pests through enlarging
their habitat range1. Extreme weather events also
pose a risk of chemicals and metals leaching into
food sources.9
Figure 4. Food- and
waterborne pathogens and
their resulting health
implications as well as
pathways of exposure and
the presence of these
pathogens in food and
water sources and
potential for transmission.3
Future Research
More extensive case studies need to be done in
order to assess all human health risks as well as
identify vulnerable populations and develop
hypotheses for regional health effects.
Projection of climate change and its future impacts
on temperature, drought, storms, floods, and
greenhouse gas emissions to predict changes in
agriculture, changes in habitat composition, and
potential changes in nutrition from the leaching of
chemicals and metals into food9.
Developing farms with flood-prevention systems,
efficient irrigation, and pest-control technology.
Improving waste-water treatment plants and water
source infrastructure, increasing desalination plants
as a source of drinking water, increasing monitoring
systems at pollution sources, and performing more
epidemiological screenings for detection purposes3.
References
1) Rosensweig, C., Iglesias, A., Yang, X.B., Epstein, P.R., Chivian, E. Climate change and extreme weather events: Implications for food production, plant diseases, and pests. Global Change &
Human Health 2001; 2.2: 90-104.
2) El-Fadel, M., Ghanimeh, S., Maroun, R., Alameddine, I. Climate Change and temperature rise: Implications on food-and water-borne diseases. Science of Total Environment 2012; 437: 15-21.
3) Rose, J.B., Epstein, P.R., Lipp, E.K., Sherman, B.H., Bernard, S.M., Patz, J.A. Climate Variability and Change in the United States: Potential Impacts on Water- and Foodborne Diseases caused
by Microbiologic Agents. Environmental Health Perspectives 2001; 109: 211-221.
4) Rose. J.B., Daeschner, S., Easterling, D.R., Curriero, F.C., Lele, S., Patz, J.Climate and waterborne disease outbreaks. American Water Works Association 2000; 92.9: 77-87
5) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Foodborne Diseases and Nutrition. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 29 Nov. 2010.
6) Woodward, A., & Smith, K. (). Chapter 11. Human Health: Impacts, Adaptation, and Co-Benefits. IPCC WGII AR5,1-69.
7) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) Framework. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2009.
8) World Health Organization. Climate Change Adaptation to Protect Human Health: Global project overview. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme
2010.
9) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Foodborne Diseases and Nutrition and Climate Change. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 28 Mar. 2013.
10) Sharma, Rita. "Impacts on Human Health of Climate and Land Use Change in the Hindu Kush–Himalayan Region." Mountain Research and Development 2012; 32(4): 480-486.