Weather Change: Could it affect how and what we eat?

Since humans first learned how to make fire in their caves back in the day, the increase in carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses being released by human activity has increased tremendously.  You might be sitting there thinking, “So what, I will never see the affects of greenhouse gasses while I am alive.”  Think again soon to be college grad.  During the next century, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that an increase of 1.8°C and 5.8°C in temperature is expected.  On top of this, within the same time frame, they also predict that the ocean levels will rise anywhere from nine to eighty eight centimeters (Hanes and Patz 99-103).  I don’t know about you, but I plan on having children.  This will unquestionably affect our children and our children’s children.  As the temperature and sea levels increase, there will be a corresponding increase in food borne diseases, toxins, and human health problems worldwide.

There are studies that show that some food borne diseases are influenced by the weather and are seasonal.  For example, most of the cases dealing with Salmonella occur in the months of summer.  Salmonella is mainly caused by ingesting infected food products and is known to cause typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and diarrhea.   The bacteria can even duplicate outside of a host animal when the conditions are most favorable of temperatures between 45°F and 86°F.  The growth of Salmonella and temperature increase is positively related, resulting in increases of food borne cases with an increase in global temperature.  Scientists in Australia conducted a study on whether an increase in temperature and the number of food poisoning or Salmonella cases were positively correlated.  This study called, “Does Ambient Temperature Affect Foodborne Diseases” consistently found that in four cities across Australia, the higher average temperature caused an increase in Salmonella notifications.  Concluding that with an increase in global temperature from greenhouse effects, expect to see an increase in cases of food poisoning such as Salmonella worldwide (D’Souza, Rennie M.; Becker, Niels G.; Hall, Gillian; Moodie, Keith 86-92).

Healthy diet goers pay attention.  Do you like to eat fish to stay healthy or to get your daily dose of fish oil?  You may think twice about eating fish twenty years from now after hearing the following study.  Two scientists conducted a study in the Faroe Islands located in the Northeast Atlantic based on mercury levels in marine life.  Their results concluded that increasing temperature levels in the deep ocean caused a correlated increase in levels of Methyl mercury found in the marine life at Faroe Islands.  The intake of Methyl mercury has been known to cause hearing impairment, mental retardation, blindness, and even death.  If nothing is done about global warming and the release of greenhouse gasses, the concentrations of Methyl mercury levels will result in a positive feedback loop.  Which means that as the temperature increases, the levels of Methyl mercury will increase causing a growing cycle.  This will eventually pass into our food source, causing humans to ingest large amounts of Methyl mercury (Booth Shawn and Zeller Dirk 521-526).

Fortunately, there is hope when it comes to food surveillance.  Over the years, the United States and surrounding countries have tried to change strategies for food surveillance in order to keep a better handle on food borne diseases.  A surveillance called FoodNet allows the US to survey specific populations including physicians and laboratories to measure the unreported and undiagnosed cases to get a full picture of food borne illnesses.  This will aid in detecting food borne outbreaks on a state and national level.  Trying to prevent food borne outbreaks is the most important and hardest task to accomplish.  Aspects such as how food is transported, the procedures that are followed when slaughtering a cow, and even where water is taken to make ice for transportation are major factors when it comes to prevention of outbreaks (Tauxe, Robert V 425).

The next time get into your car and turn the key or fill up at the gas station, remember this article and the effects our actions as humans have on the environment and in turn ourselves.  Global warming is not going to be stopped by Mother Nature or any other force.  We as humans have a moral and ethical responsibility to take action in the protection of Earth for us and for our future generations.
 

Citations

Andy Haines, MD, MBBS; Jonathan A. Patz, “Health Effects of Climate Change”. (2004):291:99-103. JAMA full text. 16 November 2007. <jama.ama-assn.org>.

Booth Shawn and Zeller Dirk, “Mercury, Food Webs, and Marine Mammals: Implications of Diet and Climate Change for Human Health”. Environ. Health Persp.(2005): 113, 521-526. Omnifile. Wilson web. JMU libraries. 16 November 2007. <wilsonweb.com>.

D’Souza, Rennie M.*; Becker, Niels G.*; Hall, Gillian*; Moodie, Keith,

“Does Ambient Temperature Affect Foodborne Disease?”. Epidemiology. (2004): 15, 86-92. Ovid Full Text. JMU libraries. 16 November 2007. <ovid.com>.

Tauxe, Robert V. “Emerging foodborne diseases: An evolving public health challenge”. (1997): 425. EBSCOHost. JMU libraries. 16 Novemeber 2007. <ebschost.com>.