Climate change, health and myth-information. The UN is misrepresenting the science (3rd July, 2008. 1300-1445. Hotel Intercontinental, Geneva )
Pr. Paul Reiter, Professor of Medical Entomology, Institut Pasteur, Paris.
Contributor and expert reviewer to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Past Member of the WHO Expert Advisory Committee on Vector Biology and Control
According to medical entomologist Prof Paul Reiter of the Institut Pasteur in Paris, bodies such as the WHO and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), are promulgating a misleading and alarmist interpretation of the relationship between vector-borne diseases and temperature. The reality is that the epidemiology of these diseases is a highly complex interplay of the ecology and behaviour of both humans and vectors that defies simplistic analysis. The resurgence of many of these diseases is a major cause for concern, but it is facile to attribute it to temperature: the principal determinants are politics, economics and human activities. If the WHO, IPCC and other authoritative bodies continue to misuse science, policies will be enacted that will be both ineffective and counterproductive.Please RSVP, space is limited: Philip Stevens, philip@policynetwork.net
