A new study uses a ‘high resolution air temperature estimation model’ to figure out (guess) the daily air temperature pregnant women in Massachusetts might have been exposed to during their pregnancy. A whopping increase of 8.5C in the last three months was associated with a 17 gram drop in birth weight. Given that global temperatures have risen by about 1 C in the last 100 years, at the current rate, that amount of warming will arrive in 850 years. Then if this correlation has any causal role, the average 3kg baby will weigh about 0.5% less. Scared yet?
Since the researchers are talking about outdoor temperatures, I’m guessing this study will especially concern pregnant women who will be homeless, or without electricity in the year 2850. Obviously the solution is cheap coal powered air conditioners
. Why risk it?*
The Daily Mail h/t Colin
Is climate change affecting birth weights? Exposure to warmer weather during pregnancy leads to smaller babies, study claims
- Researchers uncovered a link between air temperature and birth weight
- Found exposure to high air temperature during pregnancy increases the risk of lower birth weight and can cause premature birth
- An increase of 8.5 °C (47.3°F) in the last trimester was associated with a 0.6 ounce (17g) decrease in birth weight of babies born full term, study claims
By Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline
I think it says something about the science sub editing here that conversions were done through some kind of google app: an 8.5 °C increase is not “plus 47.3°F”.
As Dailymail commenter Gregg, from Wichita, said: “The science is sketchy.. The taxes are real.”
The original press release:
The paper, “Using Satellite-Based Spatiotemporal Resolved Air Temperature Exposure to Study the Association between Ambient Air Temperature and Birth Outcomes in Massachusetts” was recently published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal.
Together with his colleagues, Dr. Kloog developed a “high resolution air temperature estimation model” to predict daily air temperature by kilometer and address level exposure during various prenatal exposure periods from date of conception through birth for each mother.
“With the increase in temperatures over the last century and continued emissions from greenhouse gases, more attention is being focused on effects from heat,” Kloog says.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
*I am not forgetting the 1.6 billion people without electricity right now. This study may apply to third world pregnant women (if their model works, the populations are similar, and the signal is larger than the noise). But the answer is still cheap coal fired air conditioners.