RCP president Professor Jane Dacre welcomed The Lancet’s Commission on climate change. She said:
Doctors have always taken a wider view of health than simply treating the individual patient in front of them, and this report continues that tradition, showing that for a public health issue like climate change, governments could have more influence on population health than individual patient behaviours. The RCP itself has contributed to reducing the harm from tobacco over the past few decades by lobbying government to introduce harm reduction policies such as bans on smoking in public places and in cars where children are present.
The clear set of recommendations provided by the Commission show how we can prevent and mitigate the risks to health posed by climate change, and should be considered by governments across the world now.
For more information, please contact Morgan Evans, RCP communications and new media adviser, on 020 3075 1468 / 0779 508 8253, or email Morgan.Evans@rcplondon.ac.uk