Hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works - Examining the Human Health Impacts of Global Warming Panel II

Interview

Hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works - Examining the Human Health Impacts of Global Warming Panel II

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SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI): Thank you, Madame Chair.

Commissioner Cooper, I'm interested in the position statement on public health and climate change that has recently been adopted by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. I have not seen that yet. Is it generally consistent with what we've been reading about from the International Panel on Climate Change?

MS. COOPER: Yes, sir. It's consistent with that, and it's also consistent with the policy and position statements of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Governors Association because the report really stresses that the weight of the evidence demonstrates that human factors have and will continue to contribute significantly to changing the world's climate, and we support that. We believe that.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: And you were able to get that -- was there a minority report?

MS. COOPER: This position statement passed unanimously --

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Unanimously.

MS. COOPER: -- by the state and territorial health officers.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Including the state health officers from Wyoming and Oklahoma and --

MS. COOPER: It passed unanimously.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Well, I would like to find out how you managed to do that because if there's a remarked -- there's a marked contrast between, Madame Chair, the unanimity of the trained health professionals -- in every single state in the country you can get together and in -- just weeks ago come out with a unanimous statement, and the dialogue that still persists in the Senate chamber on this subject.

And I don't know if, Commissioner Cooper, you'd care to offer an explanation as to how it is that your group manages to find unanimity on this issue and we find even consensus so difficult to achieve.

MS. COOPER: I believe we try to focus on what our roles are as state health officers, which really, again, boils down to protecting the health of the public, promoting health and improving health. And if you can agree that those three things are important, then you look for policies that support moving in that direction. And I think that grounding in that -- instead of looking at our differences, we looked at our similarities and we looked at what was good for the citizens of our state, and I believe that was one of the driving factors.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Well, I'm impressed that it was unanimous, and I appreciate your efforts, and I thank you for your testimony.

Madame Chair.

SEN. BOXER: Thank you very much.

Of course, Senator Whitehouse, we are so behind not only the public health community -- and there are exceptions, one noted at the table -- but we're so far behind. Remember, there are still people who said HIV doesn't cause AIDS and tobacco doesn't cause cancer. You're never going to have unanimity.

But basically they're as close to unanimity as we can get among the scientists and among the doctors, and yet it is so elusive here in the United States Senate. But we're going to, of course, try to challenge that in this committee.

And I would ask unanimous consent to place into the record a letter we received dated October 22nd from the American Public Health Association. It says -- they want to make it clear that climate change is a public health issue: "From changes in vector-borne diseases to impacts on drinking water supply to extreme weather events, we are already seeing the effects of climate change on health across the globe." So we're going to put that letter in the record.

And then we have the National Association of County and City Health Officials. A lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say let's let the states and local people take the lead. Well, here's what they say: "The National Association of County and City Health Officials believes that climate change has serious far-reaching health implications for this and future generations." And they say that the health departments have got to address these impacts.

And then the World Health Organization. They say they've carried out both qualitative reviews and quantitative assessments of the health risks posed by climate change. The organization concludes that the health hazards posed by climate change and significant, wide- ranging, distributed throughout the globe, and difficult to reverse.

So I would just call on my colleagues to heed the people who are the healers in this world and in this country, and get off your duff and support good legislation, and let's get it going now.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Madame Chair?

SEN. BOXER: Yes, I would yield to you.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: I just wanted to ask if the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials' position statement on climate change and public health is in the record of this hearing.

SEN. BOXER: I would like you to add that to what we put in the record.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Okay. May I ask unanimous consent that it be a part of the record?

SEN. BOXER: Yes, absolutely. Would you like to quote from a couple sentences from there?

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: It's all good. I'd start reading it and I'd go all the way through. (Laughter.)

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