Calls for scientists to act strongly against global warming and collapsing biodiversity have increased in recent years, but the editors of major biomedical research journals were missing from this long list of whistleblowers. On Monday, September 6, less than a week before the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, more than 200 specialist journals published the same editorial urging world leaders to take the necessary measures to remedy a situation described as “Generalized environmental crisis”.
The most prestigious – the British Medical Journal, the Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the New England Journal of Medicine -, deemed to be in fierce competition for the publication of texts and works that will attract the most attention, have thus put aside their rivalry to publish, on two pages, the same petition to political leaders.
The main reason for this collective position is the impact of global warming and the erosion of biodiversity on health. “The greatest threat to global public health is the continued inability of leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 ° C and restore nature., write the signatories of the editorial. Urgent changes must be made at the corporate level and will lead to a fairer and healthier world. As editors of health journals, we call on governments and other leaders to act, making 2021 the year the world will finally change course. “
Fine particles from California fires
The past few years have seen a great deal of new research documenting the effects of ongoing global warming on mortality and morbidity. “The science is unequivocal, they add. A global temperature rise of 1.5 ° C above the pre-industrial average and continued loss of biodiversity risk causing catastrophic health damage that will be impossible to reverse. “
Over the past 20 years, the authors say, mortality from heat waves has increased by more than 50% among the elderly. The co-signers mention the ailments directly attributable to the rise in temperatures – dehydration, loss of kidney function, complications during pregnancy, cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders, etc. – but others, indirect, are also beginning to be documented. The fine particles emitted by the giant fires in California, made more frequent and larger by global warming, thus have measurable effects on the health of populations (respiratory diseases, developmental disorders in newborns, etc.).
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