Editorial: Protecting our children

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007 | 7:35 a.m.

Children are more likely to suffer the ill health effects of climate change than adults, the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded in a report released Monday. Just as important , the report called upon U.S. pediatricians to be role models and discuss global warming's hazards with elected officials.

The organization's "Global Climate Change and Children's Health" report predicts an increase in injuries and deaths stemming from more frequent catastrophic weather events, such as tornadoes and hurricanes. Children who survive these events still potentially face the stress of losing parents or other caregivers, along with the disruptions of losing homes and access to education, the report says.

The report also says increasing air pollution is making children more susceptible to asthma and other respiratory diseases. And it predicts that increases in heat and rain caused by climate change could bring about increases in heat-related illnesses and deaths and water-borne diseases among children.

But this report, considered the first major study to address the effects of climate change on children, doesn't stop at detailing the potential effects. It calls upon pediatricians to "be role models for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions" by driving less, switching to compact fluorescent bulbs and changing thermostat settings.

The report also encourages pediatricians "to advocate and support policies" to mitigate climate change. Government "at all levels," the report says, "should implement aggressive policies to halt man-made contributions to climate change and to mitigate its impact on children's health."

In a USA Today story Monday, Janice Crouse, director of a think tank affiliated with the conservative public policy group Concerned Women for America, said the academy should have issued its report without calling upon pediatricians to advocate policy change. She accused the academy of using children "as a means of advancing a political agenda."

Clearly, the effects of global warming are not political. In the case of our children, pediatric health experts now say, they are likely to be lethal. To issue a report that fell short of calling on pediatricians to act in the best interests of their patients would have been irresponsible.