Climate Change: Public Health Impacts

Warming to Food Bugs
Skin and Bare it
Flooding's for the Birds

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Climate Change: Warming to Food Bugs
1 September 2007

Food bugs multiply exponentially as the temperature increases, and in the UK, food poisoning cases are highest during the summer months. As the world gets warmer, can the food industry combat the increased chance of getting ill from a dodgy burger? Kwok W Wan investigates.

Despite this year's relatively cool summer, predictions are that temperatures in the UK will rise year on year. In a recent lecture to The Royal Society of Health, Sir David King, the Government's chief scientific advisor said, 'By 2050, the average temperature in Britain will be equal to temperature in the summer of 2003. The hottest summer so far.' The worry is that the number of food poisoning cases will increase along with the temperature. One reason for this is that the public will take advantage of the good weather and use their barbeques more frequently, increasing consumption of inadequately cooked foodstuffs. Another reason is that when food is not stored properly, warmer weather will make dangerous bacteria, such as staphylococcus aureus or bacillus cerus, multiply even faster. Already the Food Standards Agency (FSA) estimates that nearly half of all food poisoning cases in Britain occur during the hot period between June and September.

But how serious could a few more degrees be? Scientists at New Zealand's Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) ran tests to determine the rate of temperature increase in cars during the summer. They found it took only 90 minutes for the back seat to reach 35°C, the optimal growth temperature for many bacteria. 'The types of raw meat used in these experiments would be cooked before being eaten - thus destroying most, if not all, the bacteria present,' says Sue Gilbert, a food scientist at ESR. 'However, ready-to-eat food, such as ham and deli meats, could not undergo further cooking… and this is a concern.'

So what can the food industry do to protect the public health from bad practices and carelessness? Svetlana Rodgers is Professor of Food, Hospitality and Culinary Arts at the University of Brighton and has been researching methods of preserving cook-chilled ready-to-eat meals in Australia. With consumers demanding fresher foods with fewer artificial additives, careful storage and preparation are critical. But it is difficult to tell if proper procedures have been followed through the entire period before the product reaches the consumer. '"Therma-labels" have been around for around a decade, but the food industry refuses to use them,' says Professor Rodgers. 'They say they are limited because they only measure temperature and not time.'

To give food extra protection against temperature abuse, Professor Rodgers has invented a new bio-preservation method, using a combination of natural lactic acids to create a culture of 'good bacteria' to prevent botulism. 'Beneficial bacteria can beat bad bacteria and inhibit pathogens,' she says. 'And protective cultures can be added to a wide variety of foods, from sandwiches to sushi. The advantage is that it is not a chemical preservative and offers the additional advantage of enhancing the consumers' immune systems.' But there are also some drawbacks. The cultures can be visible and may put some people off eating protected food. Also, the public perceive bacteria as associated with disease.

Progress is being made in the field of bio-preservation, however, with the US Food Drug and Administration (FDA) already approving the use of a spray-on virus to be used to tackle listeria on deli meats. In the unpredictable summers to come, at picnics and barbeques across the land, our food may be full of bugs, but of the good kind. As Professor Rodgers confesses, 'I'd like the whole food service industry to be awash with good bacteria!'

Related links:
RSPH Qualifications: Food Hygiene/Safety and HACCP
JRSH: The Journal for The Royal Society of Health

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Climate Change: Skin and Bare it.
7 September 2007

Over the last 10 years rates of melanoma have risen by 40% in the UK. As the world warms, is this set to worsen? Kwok W Wan discovers that counting carbon could cut your UV exposure.

'We are at boiling point,' says Iain Mack, founder of MOLE Clinic and a melanoma survivor. 'It is two fold why we in the UK have more deaths from skin cancer, compared to a hotter country like Australia. First, there is a higher level of awareness: Australians don't hesitate to check moles. Second is the availability of resources. In Australia, clinics are everywhere and it's very easy and convenient to go to one.' He also thinks the lack of experts currently working here is hampering early diagnosis. 'Most GP are not sufficiently trained to diagnose skin cancer and there is also a shortage of dermatologists,' he says.

Iain thinks we are heading towards an epidemic, and the statistics reflect his dim prediction. Over 2,300 people die from skin cancer in the UK every year, according to Cancer Research UK, and over 75,000 new cases are diagnosed. Skin cancer can start as early as being sun burnt in childhood. Iain believes this may explain the number of cases we currently have. 'Anecdotally, the lifestyle changes of 30 years ago could explain the number of skin cancer cases now. That was when all the cheap package holidays to Spain started and families took their children to beach resorts. I'm in my 40's and remember going on those holidays with my parents for the first time.' He adds, 'The time lapse between a sunburn and skin cancer is sometimes decades.'

Despite the greenhouse effect reflecting more heat back toward the earth, it doesn't increase the levels of short frequency radiation like UV. There is also some good news about our ozone, according to Dr Ann R Webb, Centre of Atmospheric Science, University of Manchester. 'We have stopped using CFCs so the ozone layer should be at its most depleted about now.' she says. 'Models infer that levels should start to recover soon, if nothing else disrupts the atmospheric balance.'

Dr. Webb also states that the future effects on UV levels due solely to climate change are highly speculative. 'Ozone is created in the tropics and moved to other places by winds. We normally have more ozone above our latitudes because of this system. Perhaps if climate change alters the global dynamics, the winds in the stratosphere could change the ozone distribution over the globe,' she says, but repeats this is only speculation. Climate change could also alter cloud amounts, with as much as a 60% UV cut on an overcast day.

What everyone agrees on is that reaction to climate change will have the biggest impact on skin cancer rates. Rebecca Russell, SunSmart Campaign Manager, explains, 'If the weather gets warmer, then people may spend more time outdoors in the sunshine, and skin cancer rates could increase.' They follow a chorus of calls for more education to stem the increase of skin cancer in the UK. 'We must think like Australians,' says Iain, referring to their intensive skin cancer awareness campaign in the 80's resulting in a predicted fall in skin cancer cases now.

No-one knows how human beings will react to warmer weather, and just to show how predicting human behaviour can be as difficult as predicting the weather, Dr Webb has an interesting scenario for us to entertain. UV levels are dependant on latitude: the nearer the equator the higher the intensity. 'Most of our exposure comes from a two week sun bathing binge abroad,' says Dr Webb and explains that cancer is caused by this 'short, sharp, UV shock'. As hot countries become unbearably hot, and we become aware of the carbon burden of flying, Britons may opt to stay at home where the UV levels are lower and therefore reducing exposure to intense sunlight.

Climate change good for health? Only if it forces us to behave ecologically it seems.

Related links:
SunSmart - the UK's national skin cancer prevention campaign

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Climate Change: Flooding's for the Birds.
28 September 2007

Dramatic flooding, like that seen in Tewkesbury, UK, in the summer of 2007, is likely to increase in frequency and severity as the world warms. With floodwaters come dangers to essential infrastructure, such as power stations and water treatment plants, posing a health risk to thousands of people. Kwok W Wan looks at why this is happening and why attracting water birds could be the answer.

Flood plains are expanses of land where excess water drains way into natural channels when a river bursts its banks. The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) say that five million people in two million homes already live in flood risk areas. Aside from the direct effects of floodwaters (injury, drowning, hypothermia, etc), the indirect dangers of flooding include mental illness (a four-fold increase according to a Department of Health report) and chemical hazards, for example from displaced animal waste and pesticides. But perhaps the biggest effect will be to health delivery services such as hospitals and clinics.

'Historically, we have built things in flood plains, and we are living with that legacy,' says Bill Donovan, Climate Change Advisor for the Environment Agency (EA). 'As of 2006, around 2200 power stations and sub stations are at risk of severe flooding, as well as over 700 sewage treatment plants.' Other worrying statistics show that 17% of all emergency service buildings are also sited on flood plains, including one in five fire stations and nearly one in ten hospitals. 'We think this highlights the weakness in important infrastructure, and at the moment, there is no legal obligation to provide flood defence.' To deal with these problems, the EA now has to be consulted before they decide where to build important services. The task now is not how to stop flooding, but how to manage it. One option would be to relocate important service buildings to flood safe areas, but this is held to be too expensive and impractical.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) wants a more coordinated effort on flood relief and defences. They conducted a survey of the residents in Gloucestershire after this summer's floods and found they did not want compensation, rather reassurances that it would never happen again. The polls also indicated that they were reasonably satisfied with the water company's response. 'The perception is that the water company - Severn Trent - handled the situation well, though some things could have been done better,' says Dame Yve Buckland, National Chair of the CCW. 'For example, some of the bowsers were placed at inappropriate places to get to and weren't topped up regularly enough. Communication needs to be improved, with even basic information, like when the refills were occurring, not made known.'

The CCW are calling for a more integrated system to provide water, even in emergencies. 'There should be a system to pipe water from one water company's supply to another. This would have solved the drinking water problem in Gloucester and all the bother with bowsers. Some companies already have this arrangement in place and we would like to see it implemented nationally.'

Already, there are other big ideas on how to manage the problem. Ironically, one of the ways to manage floods is to create more floods, especially around coastal areas. Alkborough Flats, an EA scheme opened last year in Lincolnshire, is the biggest flood storage scheme in Europe. It helps lower tide levels by allowing water to from the estuary to run over the flats to create a massive water storage area. This system is also popular with environmentalists as it creates wetlands and attracts animals to the area, especially wildfowl.

'There are similar schemes in the Essex Estuary,' says Donovan. 'The future of the Thames Barrier may use the same principle,' he adds.

Could climate change lead to more nature reserves? If we are to survive, we need to get bird friendly.

Related links:
The Environment Agency
The Consumer Council for Water

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