PERINO SATIRISES HERSELF HARD TO BEAT

October 27th, 2007
The scale of the challenge is huge. We’ve got to act now – Times Online

YET

CLIMATE CHANGE — PERINO HIGHLIGHTS ‘PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS’ OF GLOBAL WARMING: On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino responded to reports that the White House “eviscerated” Center for Disease Control director Dr. Julie Gerberding’s Senate testimony on the “Human Impacts of Global Warming.” She claimed that “the decision” was “to focus that testimony on public health benefits” of climate change. “There are public health benefits to climate change,” asserted Perino, as it “would help those individuals” who “die from cold-related deaths every winter.” But the negative “health impacts of climate change are potentially huge,” outweighing the “benefits.” “Many of the most important global killers are highly sensitive to climatic conditions. Malaria, diarrhea and protein-energy malnutrition together cause more than 3 million deaths each year,” notes the World Health Organization. In fact, in the unredacted version of Gerberding’s testimony, the only mention of “public health benefits” related to climate change are a result of “activities needed to protect Americans from the health effects of climate change.”