Debunking Dana Perino
Posted by Stephanie Taylor on October 29, 2007 at 05:01 PM
Last week, White House press secretary Dana Perino argued that global warming is a good thing, saying:
"It is true that many people die from cold-related deaths every winter. And there are studies that say that climate change in certain areas of the world would help those individuals."
So, taking her words seriously for the sake of argument--is it better for the planet to be hotter? Here's the research, thanks to Huffington Post:
The increase in extremely hot summers predicted by climate change models will lead to a higher death toll that will not be offset by fewer deaths during warmer winters, say researchers."The increase in mortality when you have one extra cold snap is 1.59%, but the increase in mortality for an additional heatwave is 5.74%," explains Mercedes Medina-Ramón of Harvard University's School of Public Health in Massachusetts, US.
Medina-Ramón and colleagues looked at how temperature correlated to mortality in 50 US cities between 1989 and 2000. They found that heart attacks and cardiac arrest were the causes of death that were most likely to increase with more extreme temperatures.
So, there you have it. Dana Perino, debunked.
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