Comments:
Please circulate as widely as possible. dwt
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From: "Elisabet Lindgren" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, May 7, 1997 at 6:55:01 am EDT
Attached: None
Dear Colleagues,
Enclosed please find a revised version of the letter sent in January to
president Clinton by the Physicians for Social Responsibility, where
they urge president Clinton to take prompt action to decrease the
emissions of green-house gases.
A sign-on letter to president Clinton has been circulated. A similar letter
will now be sent not only to Clinton, but as a first step, to all the
headof states of the G7 countries before their meeting in June.
WE NEED AS MANY SIGNATURES AS POSSIBLE!!!
Please send this to all colleagues and public health workers that might be
interested.
Please fax/post/e-mail the list with signatures to:
Karen Perry
Physicians for Social Responsibility
1101 14th St., Suite 700,
NW Washington, DC 20005 Fax: 202-898-0172,
Phone: 202-898-0150 E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Thank you for your contribution to a better future for coming
generations.
Sincerely,
Elisabet Lindgren
vice-president International Society of Doctors for the Environment
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Physicians for Social Responsibility, is concerned with dangers of
climate change and the Climate Treaty to be signed in Kyoto, Japan in
December, 1997. The letter addressed to U.S President Clinton has been
signed by over 350 health professionals. Our plan is to garner far more
signatures internationally and send it first to the G-7 Presidents meeting
in Denver, Colorado in June, and later to all the Conference of the Parties
to the Framework Convention on Climate Change.Please consider signing
the letter, and return it by surface mail, fax or e-mail. Please also circulat
e
the letter among your colleagues and professional organizations. Finally,
please try to solicit signatures from prominent persons in the health
professions.A statement stressing urgency with regard to climate change
has been issued by economists, and another is being circulated among
scientists. A strong international voice by those of us in the biological
sciences and public health arena could prove helpful in accelerating
a firm agreement to move towards a renewable and energy-efficient
future.
Sincerely yours,Paul R. Epstein, MD, MPHAssociate DirectorCenter
for Health and the Global EnvironmentHarvard Medical SchoolOliver
Wendell Holmes Society260 Longwood AvenueBoston, MASS 02115
Phone: 617-432-0493Fax: 617-432-2595
E-mail:[log in to unmask] med.harvard.edu
You may send, fax or e-mail signatures to:Karen Perry
Physicians for Social Responsibility1101 14th St., Suite 700, NWWashington,
DC 20005Fax: 202-898-0172, Phone: 202-898-0150
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
1101 Fourteenth Street Northwest Suite 700Washington,
DC 20005
To:
President Clinton
The White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington,
DC 20500January 21, 1997
Dear Mr. President:We are writing to you as physicians and health
professionals concerned aboutthe potentially devastating and possibly
irreversible effects of climatechange on human health and the environment.
We urge you to take prompt andeffective actions both domestically and
internationally to achievesignificant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
There is mounting evidence that climate change, of the scale currently
projected, would have pervasive adverse impacts on human health and
result in significant loss of life. Potential impacts include increased mortal
ity
and illness due to heat stress and worsened air pollution, and increased
incidence of vector borne infectious diseases such as malaria,schistosomiasis
and dengue, diseases related to water supply and sanitation,and food borne
illnesses. Expanding populations of pest species, impairedfood production
and nutrition, and extreme weather events such as floods,droughts, forest
fires and windstorms would pose additional risks to humanhealth. Infants,
children and other vulnerable populations especially inalready stressed
regions of the world would likely suffer disproportionatelyfrom these
impacts.As individuals trained in medicine and science, we strongly support
the credibility and integrity of the Second Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in December
1995.This eport concludes for the first time that observed changes in climate
are not simply the result of natural variability, but that "the balance of
evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate." The
weight of the evidence and scientific consensus are sufficient to warrant
immediate action.As public health professionals who believe firmly in
the wisdom ofpreventive action, we endorse strong policy measures to
stabilize greenhousegas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that
would prevent dangerousanthropogenic interference with the climate
system, as called for in theUnited Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change. Taking steps now toprevent disease, illness, and injury
will not only diminish the potentialfor widespread human suffering but
reduce the high costs of treatingillnesses which might have been avoided.
As citizens of the United States, we understand that our nation has the
highest total CO2 emissions in the world and the highest per capita
emissions of any major industrialized country. We recognize an obligation
and opportunity for the U.S. to assume leadership in reducing greenhouse gase
missions. U.S. leadership would lend credibility to international
negotiations and help build support for the measures necessary to address
climate change on a global scale.We commend the Administration for its
recently announced commitment tonegotiate an internationally binding and
verifiable agreement establishingtargets and timetables for meaningful
reductions in emissions of CO2 andother greenhouse gases. We strongly
support this position and ask you toensure that the United States plays a
leadership role in moving theinternational community toward this objective
by the end of 1997.At the same time, we urge you to take immediate action
domestically toadvance policies designed to increase efficiency in the use
and productionof energy in the United States, and to accelerate the developmen
t
andtransfer of energy saving and renewable energy technologies worldwide.
Numerous studies, including IPCC's Second Assessment, conclude that such
policies can achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at
little or no cost. Mr. President, the time has come to act. The science is cre
dible,
and the potential impacts profound. Prudence and a commitment to act
responsibly on behalf of the world's children and all future
generations dictate a prompt and effective response to climate change. We urge
you to make this a top priority of your Administration as we move toward
the 21st century.
Sincerely,
Robert K. Musil, PhD Executive Director Physicians for Social Responsibility
Janeen W. Stout Director of Environmental Programs Physicians for Social
Responsibilitycc: Vice President Al Gore; Administrator Carol Browner,
U.S. EPA; TimothyWirth, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs; Kathleen
McGinty, Council on Environmental Quality
SIGNED BY OVER 350 DOCTORS AND HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
Sign-on Letter to the President
If you would like to sign on to this letter, sign your name below and fill in
the
informantion requested and send it to:
Karen Perry, Physicians For Social Responsibility, 1101 Fourteenth Street
Northwest Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005 or fax it to 202-898-0172 or
send an e-mail to [log in to unmask] Please include your full name and address,
title and affiliation and indicate that you wish to sign onto the Climate Cha
nge
Letter
.SIGNATURE____ NAME/DEGREE____TITLE___ORGANIZATION__
ADDRESS______________
----------------------------------------------------
Address: Elisabet Lindgren, MD, PhL
Natural Resources Management,
Dept. of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University,
S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Fax +46-8-15 84 17, Tel. +46-8-16 12 90
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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