Much of the research on climate change and cancer has focused on how hurricanes and wildfires affect cancer care. Connecting hurricanes and survival among people with cancer DellaValle, who is a member of the NCI Climate Change and Cancer Working Group. “Measuring and assessing these weather events will be important for understanding and addressing the impacts of climate change on health,” added Dr. “Certainly, extreme weather events could affect the risk of cancer and efforts to prevent and control the disease in many ways,” said Curt DellaValle, Ph.D., of the Environmental Epidemiology Branch in NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS). And prolonged heat waves or storms associated with climate change may discourage people from being active outdoors. Droughts and floods can affect the food supply, potentially reducing access to fresh fruits and vegetables. People’s access to care-and the ability of health care providers to deliver care-can be disrupted, often for long periods of time.Įxtreme weather may also disrupt efforts to prevent cancer. Hurricanes strengthened by warming ocean waters can destroy medical buildings and equipment used to treat, diagnose, and detect cancer. Wildfire smoke contains several carcinogens, such as formaldehyde and benzene. “We believe that climate change may have direct and indirect effects on the development of cancer and on cancer care,” said Gwen Collman, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), who helps coordinate NIH research on climate change and health.įor instance, climate change-related disasters can expose people to cancer-causing substances, or carcinogens, in the environment. Today, a growing body of evidence suggests that the consequences of climate change, such as more frequent wildfires, sustained droughts and heat waves, and stronger and more intense tropical storms, may influence many aspects of cancer. But after these disasters, researchers began to study how people with cancer had been affected by the events. Over a span of four months in 2017, the United States experienced four deadly disasters that were likely worsened by climate change-Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria and wildfires in California.Īt the time, knowledge about possible connections between climate change and cancer was limited.
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