Royal colleges: Doctors should set an example
Friday, 30 Nov 2007 13:09
The heads of a number of UK royal colleges have lent their support to calls for doctors to play a role in mitigating climate change.
In a letter to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the presidents of the Faculty of Public Health, the Royal College of Physicians London and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health say doctors should lead by example in promoting environmentally-friendly actions.
They outline a number of serious consequences of global warming, saying death and disease will result from "heatwaves, floods, storms, fires and droughts".
Pressure is placed on world leaders to prevent further climate change in the letter, but it says doctors also have a role to play.
"We call on all health professionals to urge their colleagues, employers and institutions to reduce their carbon footprint and to set an example in their personal lives," the presidents write.
"We intend to make our colleges carbon neutral as soon as possible. Above all, we call on the world's leaders to take radical action to reduce [carbon dioxide] emissions as a matter of extreme urgency.
"Only by firm and decisive action now can we, as a global community, hope to avert or mitigate an impending public health catastrophe of immense proportions."
