Climate change harmful for your health.

Global warming is blamed for the rising sea levels and other natural phenomena such as the El Nino and tsunamis. But scientists believe it's also causing an increasing number of life-threatening illnesses and changing their distribution patterns in the world, bringing malaria-carrying mosquitoes to new areas and spreading cholera and dengue fever beyond their traditional borders. 

 “The populations of areas where there is malaria are partly resistant, so they have adapted to some extent, but if malaria area has moved to another area were people are susceptible, then, we will see many million lives lost perhaps,” notes Stephen Loft, of Copenhagen University. 

Some 400 million people across the globe suffer from allergies - many of them have the chronic breathing condition asthma. The vast majority of medical studies agree that such conditions have increased sharply over the past few decades, and that they're still on the rise. 

Asthma, which causes breathing problems when airways become inflamed or irritated, is caused both by genetics - and a person's surroundings. 

Many experts firmly believe that a major reason behind the huge growth in asthma symptoms is increased urban pollution, notably from vehicle emissions. 

Professor Michel Aubier, at the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital in Paris notes that, “We know that certain pollutants, notably diesel particles, ozone gas, and nitrogen, aggravate asthma symptoms...  they favour an allergic reaction, especially the diesel particles." 

And emissions also play another role; researchers have found that global warming, linked to increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, has caused an important shift in plant life patterns, with a direct impact on allergies. “Pollen seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer... also, there's a much greater quantity of pollen being produced. And on top of that, increased temperatures combined with more pollution, changes the 'allergy potential' of the pollen. It's becoming much more powerful," continues Professor Aubier. 

Environmental health pollution is not just confined to the airwaves. Tap water can according to the World Wildlife Fund, also be dangerous for your health. The WWF is concerned about the high levels of pesticides and nitrates found in some groundwater. The NGO also found traces of medicine, including anti-depressants. Indeed there are even some doctors leading a campaign against tap water for cancer patients.   “Nitrates and their derivatives promote the development of cancerous cells. As far as pesticides in water are concerned, we know they can change the sex of tadpoles and fish in our rivers, that some water is badly filtered, and that those pesticides can act like hormones and contribute to the spread of cancer,” warns Dr David Servan-Schreiber.  

It's a recurring problem. Fertilizers are sprayed over farming lands for agricultural purposes, polluting the soil. Different regions in France have different levels of pollution; it all depends on how much is invested in treating drinking water. According to the Paris Waterworks there product is clear and clean as it goes through a series of strict tests.