The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that recognized climate change as a significant danger to public health. President Trump labeled climate change a scam, but extensive research demonstrates its quantifiable impacts on health, including an increase in disease and fatalities annually due to warming.
This revocation removes the 2009 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finding, which was foundational for numerous climate regulations instituted to combat global warming. Research in the past five years has overwhelmingly reinforced the understanding that climate change poses increasing threats to human health, leading to thousands of deaths in the U.S. alone over the last few decades.
A study published in JAMA outlines a record high of heat-related deaths in 2023, doubling the number from 1999 as climate conditions worsen. Moreover, a 2021 report in Nature Climate Change concluded that human activities contribute to more than a third of heat deaths worldwide, resulting in approximately 9,700 deaths each year from elevated temperatures induced by fossil fuel consumption.
Experts criticize the administration's dismissal of science, highlighting that peer-reviewed research consistently documents the health risks associated with climate change. Researchers are increasingly tracking various health issues, including respiratory diseases due to pollution and mental health problems linked to climate-induced disasters.
Despite Trump’s assertions, notable figures like Dr. Howard Frumkin of the University of Washington emphasize the reality of health threats posed by climate change, likening the denial of its impacts to the belief in a flat Earth. With thousands of new studies emerging, understanding the full scale of climate change's consequences on public health continues to grow.
