Here is a question for the American Cancer Society: If you need cancer treatment, would you go to a cancer treatment center that was worried about its carbon footprint? Or one that was worried about delivering the best possible modern care possible?
— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) May 27, 2020
Climate change and cancer
Excerpts:
The prospects for further progress in cancer prevention and control in this century are bright but face an easily overlooked threat from climate change, which can impact both exposure to cancer risk factors and access to cancer care.
Climate change is already increasing cancer risk through increased exposure to carcinogens after extreme weather events such as hurricanes and wildfires. In addition to increasing cancer risk, climate change is also impacting cancer survival. Extreme weather events can impede patients’ access to cancer care and the ability of cancer treatment facilities to deliver care.7 For these reasons, cancer treatment facilities should ensure that their disaster preparedness plans can withstand climate threats and should evaluate and mitigate their own contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, many actions that address climate change also reduce carcinogen releases or exposures.
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Climate change creates conditions favorable to the greater production of and exposure to known carcinogens. Extreme weather events are already increasing the amount of carcinogens in communities.
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Climate Change Disrupts Access to Cancer Care
Climate change can disrupt access to and receipt of care throughout the cancer care continuum. Successful prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer can require multiple visits to medical facilities. This makes patients with cancer especially vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters on access to care.23
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Extreme weather events also threaten the laboratory and clinic infrastructure dedicated to cancer care in the United States. Many cancer treatment facilities have begun to make themselves more resilient to the threats of extreme weather and climate change.
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To date, no studies have estimated the carbon footprint of cancer care. Some emission sources specific to cancer care are listed in Table 1. Cancer prevention and early detection usually occur in primary care settings, whereas diagnosis, staging, and treatment (surgery, systemic therapy, and radiotherapy) commonly occur in more specialized facilities. Medical devices are indispensable for effective cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. The energy expenditure associated with operating cancer treatment facilities and medical devices, as well as the manufacturing, packaging, and shipment of devices and pharmaceuticals, contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions in cancer care.
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Some cancer treatment facilities have begun to consider their own carbon footprint and started a process to achieve carbon neutrality. However, the proportion of health care institutions reporting environmental sustainability activities lags behind other economic sectors,53 and it is not clear how many institutions involved in cancer care delivery currently assess the climate or broader environmental impact of their activities. Encouraging carbon footprint measurement and public reporting, possibly through the NCI’s and CoC’s accreditation processes, would help identify opportunities for decreasing the environmental impact of the health care system and work as an incentive for the implementation of sustainability efforts.
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Health Co‐Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation
Because many anthropogenic drivers of climate change are also carcinogens,54 climate mitigation efforts have health co‐benefits, and especially benefits to cancer prevention and outcomes. All stakeholders concerned with the prevention and treatment of cancer have much at stake with climate change and a heavy dependence on fossil fuels, which accounts for nearly 80% of all the carbon pollution.55 T
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Although some may view these issues as beyond the scope of responsibility of the nation’s cancer treatment facilities, one need look no further than their mission statements, all of which speak to eradicating cancer. Climate change and continued reliance on fossil fuels push that noble goal further from reach. However, if all those whose life work is to care for those with cancer made clear to the communities they serve that actions to combat climate change and lessen our use of fossil fuels could prevent cancers and improve cancer outcomes, we might see actions that address climate change flourish and the attainment of our mission to reduce suffering from cancer grow nearer.
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Two Rebuttals to the study here:
No, Climate Change Does Not Cause Cancer – Despite claims from new ‘preposterous’ American Cancer Society study – James Taylor debunks study: “The line of reasoning is preposterous. And even if the ACS’s line of reasoning were sound, the line of reasoning would indicate that climate change is reducing cancer incidence and mortality.”
“Climate change has clearly not ‘triggered more frequent weather disasters like hurricanes and wildfires.’”
SHAMELESS ALARMISTS/MEDIA SPREAD CLIMATE CHANGE CANCER HORROR STORY – CNBC writes, “Extreme weather disasters also lower cancer survival rates. One study shows that cancer patients were 19 percent more likely to die when hurricane declarations were made during their therapy because of treatment interruptions compared with patients who had regular access to care.
“‘For patients with cancer, the effects of hurricanes on access to cancer care can mean the difference between life and death,’ the authors wrote,” CNBC reports.
H. Sterling Burnett: “Contrary to these scary claims, human-induced climate change cannot be causing increased mortality from cancer, because data show no evidence hurricanes or wildfires are becoming more severe or frequent.”
Cancer deaths blamed on ‘climate change’ – Now that “climate change” and cancer are being linked in a study published in the American Cancer Society journal, deaths from cancer could someday be labeled a “climate change” death.https://t.co/GoT9z6KZzH
— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) May 27, 2020
Update June 2023: The Lancet Journal: Cancer care critically affected by USA drug shortages – Published: June 15, 2023 – Ongoing shortages of chemotherapy drugs in the USA—now among the worst in three decades—have reached crisis point, with as many as 100 000 patients affected.
Update 2023: PBS News: Critical cancer drug shortage forces doctors, patients to make tough choices – Hospitals and cancer centers are running out of two major injectable cancer drugs: carboplatin and cisplatin.
And who benefits!? China! FDA to allow imports of cancer drug from China amid ongoing shortage
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How many can they come up with? Surgery Causes Global Warming?! Study Shows ‘Anesthesia Agent Is Greatest Potential Contributor to Global Warming’– Claim: ‘Anesthetics used by a busy hospital contribute as much to global warming as the emissions from hundreds of cars per year’-
Claim: Surgical General Anesthetic is Contributing to Climate Change– Switching from general to regional anaesthetics may help cut greenhouse emissions and ultimately help reduce global warming, a new study claims. While regional anaesthetics numb a certain part of the body, general anaesthetics make patients totally unconscious for what tend to be more serious procedures. But unlike regional anaesthetics, generals use volatile and environmentally-unfriendly halogenated agents, such as desflurane, or nitrous oxide. … ‘Green-gional’ anesthesia: the non-polluting benefits of regional anesthesia to decrease greenhouse gases and attenuate climate change
#How many can they come up with? Surgery Causes Global Warming?! Study Shows ‘Anesthesia Agent Is Greatest Potential Contributor to Global Warming’– Claim: ‘Anesthetics used by a busy hospital contribute as much to global warming as the emissions from hundreds of cars per year’-
Claim: Surgical General Anesthetic is Contributing to Climate Change– Switching from general to regional anaesthetics may help cut greenhouse emissions and ultimately help reduce global warming, a new study claims. While regional anaesthetics numb a certain part of the body, general anaesthetics make patients totally unconscious for what tend to be more serious procedures. But unlike regional anaesthetics, generals use volatile and environmentally-unfriendly halogenated agents, such as desflurane, or nitrous oxide. … ‘Green-gional’ anesthesia: the non-polluting benefits of regional anesthesia to decrease greenhouse gases and attenuate climate change
Flashback 2019: Canadian Medical Association Journal: How health care contributes to climate change – Climate change is a growing health threat around the world — contributing to heat stroke, food insecurity, cardiorespiratory ailments and many other issues — and the health care industry is part of the problem. “It’s almost like the process of healing causes harm,” said Kent Waddington, cofounder of the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care. Health care in Canada was responsible for 4.6% of national greenhouse gas emissions in 2009–2015, according to a recent study in PLOS Medicine. … The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care has led projects to reduce the environmental impact of providing health care, such as promoting sustainable food in hospitals and reducing toxic chemicals used for cleaning.
2022: Operating rooms are the climate change contributor no one’s talking about – Two surgeons-in-training suggest some sustainable solutions for their energy-intensive discipline. ... Cancer care is an obvious target for greener efforts within surgery, Berlin notes, because it often involves intense levels of care over a short period of time. Plus, minimally invasive surgeries that require a lot of energy, including robotic-assisted operations, have become common treatments for cancers ranging from colorectal and uterine cancer to head and neck cancer. A robotic-assisted hysterectomy, for example, produces as much carbon as driving more than 2,200 miles in a car — the equivalent of a road trip from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Los Angeles. … Cancer care is an obvious target for greener efforts within surgery, Berlin notes, because it often involves intense levels of care over a short period of time. But perhaps the broadest way the oncology space could cut down on its greenhouse gas emissions is to change how surgical care is delivered, starting with permanently offering telemedicine.
2022: Association of American Medical Colleges: Hospitals take creative steps to reduce carbon footprint – As medical organizations increase their commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, hospitals report progress through quiet methods like changing anesthesia, fixing valves, and re-sterilizing devices.
