Just in time for Halloween, there’s yet another danger to children for frazzled parents to fret about. For those of you keeping track at home, dangers include strangers, tainted candy, strangers with tainted candy, razorblades, pedophiles, smut, the dark, and now … the health effects of climate change, at least according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The academy released a report on the issue at its annual meeting this week. “Anticipated direct health consequences of climate change include injury and death from extreme weather events and natural disasters, increases in climate-sensitive infectious diseases, increases in air-pollution-related illness, and more heat-related, potentially fatal, illness,” said the report. “Within all of these categories, children have increased vulnerability compared with other groups.” The academy urged pediatricians to step up the call for climate action and also to set an example by running climate-friendly practices.
