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Bulletin references April 2024

You can read the April 2024 Bulletin here.

Climate change, lab sustainability and pathology

Climate change will have a wide ranging effect on global health and pathology services

  1. UKHSA. Health Effects of Climate Chagne (HECC) in the UK: State of the Evidence 2023. 2023.
  2. Patz JA, Daszak P, Tabor GM, Aguirre AA, Pearl M, Epstein J et al. Unhealthy landscapes: Policy recommendations on land use change and infectious disease emergence. Environ Health Perspect 2004;112:1092–1098.
  3. Romanello M, Di Napoli C, Drummond P, Green C, Kennard H, Lampard P, Scammam D et al. The 2022 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels. Lancet 2022;400:1619–1654.
  4. Mora C, McKenzie T, Gaw IM, Dean JM, von Hammerstein H, Knudson TA et al. Over half of known human pathogenic diseases can be aggravated by climate change. Nat Clim Chang 2022;12:869-875.
  5. Semenza JC, Herbst S, Rechenburg A, Suk JE, Hoser C, Schreiber C et al. Climate change impact assessment of food- and waterborne diseases. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 2012;42:857–890.
  6. Metelmann S, Caminade C, Jones AE, Medlock JM, Baylis M, Morse AP. The UK's suitability for Aedes albopictus in current and future climates. J R Soc Interface 2019;16:20180761.
  7. Rittel HWJ, Webber MM. Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences 1973;4:155–169.
  8. Littmann J, Simonsen GS. Antimicrobial resistance is a super wicked problem. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 2019;139:16.
  9. Weaver D, Moyle BD, McLennan CL, Casali L. Taming the wicked problem of climate change with "virtuous challenges": An integrated management heuristic. J Environ Manage 2023;347:119136.
  10. O'Neill J. Tackling Drug-Resistant Infections Globally: Final Report and Recommendations – The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance. London, UK: AMR Review, 2016.
  11. McAlister S, Barratt AL, McGain F. The carbon footprint of pathology testing. Med J Aust, 2020;213:477–477 e1.
  12. Morgan DJ, Malani P, Diekema DJ. Diagnostic stewardship—Leveraging the laboratory to improve antimicrobial use. JAMA 2017;318:607–608.
  13. Kroft SH. A different kind of laboratory stewardship. Am J Clin Pathol 2021;156:493-494.
  14. Gordon IO, Sherman JD, Leapman M, Overcash M, Thiel CL. Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of gastrointestinal biopsies in a surgical pathology laboratory. Am J Clin Pathol 2021;156:540–549.

Clinical laboratory sustainability – looking forward to greener practices

  1. World Health Organization. Climate change. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health
  2. Watts N, Amann M, Arnell N, Ayeb-Karlsson S, Belesova K, Boykoff M. The 2019 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: ensuring that the health of a child born today is not defined by a changing climate. Lancet 2019;394:1836–1878.
  3. Gammie AJ, Lopez JB, Scott S. Imperative: reducing the environmental impact of clinical laboratories. Clin Chem Lab Med 2023;61:634–637.
  4. McAlister S, Barratt AL, Bell KJ, McGain F. The carbon footprint of pathology testing. Med J Aust 2020;212:377–382.
  5. Zhi M, Ding EL, Theisen-Toupal J, Whelan J, Arnaout R. The landscape of inappropriate laboratory testing: A 15-year meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 2013;8:e78962.
  6. Müskens JLJM, Kool RB, van Dulmen SA, Westert GP. Overuse of diagnostic testing in healthcare: a systematic review. BMJ Qual Saf 2022;31:54–63.
  7. Scott S. Embedding education into clinical laboratory professional training to foster sustainable development and greener practice. Clin Chem Lab Med 2022;61:638–641.

The effects of climate change on health

  1. World Health Organization. Climate change. 2023. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health
  2. Future Earth, The Earth League, WCRP. 10 new insights in climate science 2022. Available at: https://10insightsclimate.science/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/10NICS-2022-Report_digital.pdf
  3. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Hazard definition and classification review: Technical report. 2020. Available at: https://www.undrr.org/publication/hazard-definition-and-classification-review-technical-report
  4. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Hazard Information Profiles (HIPs). 2021. Available at: https://www.undrr.org/publication/hazard-information-profiles-hips
  5. United Nations Environment Programme. Adaption gap report 2023. Available at: https://www.unep.org/resources/adaptation-gap-report-2023
  6. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climate change 2023 synthesis report. 2023. Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf
  7. UK Health Security Agency. Climate and health security: Looking ahead to 2023. 2023. Available at: https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2023/02/08/climate-and-health-security-looking-ahead-to-2023/
  8. UK Health Security Agency. Climate change: health effects in the UK. 2024. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/climate-change-health-effects-in-the-uk
  9. UK Health Security Agency. 11 things to know about the Health Effects of Climate Change report. 2023. Available at: https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2023/12/11/11-things-to-know-about-the-health-effects-of-climate-change-report/

Health and climate: wider perspectives

Plant-based diets – an underutilised way to tackle our health and climate crises

  1. GBD 2017 Diet Collaborators. Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet 2019;doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30041-8.
  2. Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, Springmann M, Lang T, Vermeulen S et al. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet 2019;6736:3–49.
  3. Poore J, Nemecek T. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science 2018;6392:987–992.  
  4. Romanello M, Di Napoli C, Green C, Kennard H, Lampard P, Scamman D, et al. The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms. Lancet 2023;402:2346–94. Available at: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673623018597
  5. Eat Forum. Diets for a Better Future. Published 2020. Available at: eatforum.org/knowledge/diets-for-a-better-future/
  6. Clark MA, Domingo NGG, Colgan K, Thakrar SK, Tilman D, Lynch J et al. Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets. Science 2020;370.
  7. Takacs B, Stegemann JA, Kalea AZ, Borrion A. Comparison of environmental impacts of individual meals - Does it really make a difference to choose plant-based meals instead of meat-based ones? J Clean Prod 2022;379:134782. Available at: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622043542
  8. Madre Brava. Replacing 30% of meat with plants proteins could offset almost all global aviation emissions, free up an India-sized carbon sink and save 7.5 million swimming pools worth of water a year. Published 2 November 2023. Available at: madrebrava.org/insight/replacing-30-percent-of-meat-with-plants-proteins-could-offset-almost-all-global-aviation
  9. Hayek MN, Harwatt H, Ripple WJ, Mueller ND. The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land. Nat Sustain 2021;4:21–24.
  10. Springmann M, Wiebe K, Mason-D’Croz D, Sulser TB, Rayner M, Scarborough P. Health and nutritional aspects of sustainable diet strategies and their association with environmental impacts: a global modelling analysis with country-level detail. Lancet Planet Heal 2018;2:e451–e461.
  11. Laine JE, Huybrechts I, Gunter MJ, Ferrari P, Weiderpass E, Tsilidis K et al. Co-benefits from sustainable dietary shifts for population and environmental health: an assessment from a large European cohort study. Lancet Planet Heal 2021;doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00250-3.
  12. Van Boeckel TP, Glennon EE, Chen D, Gilbert M, Robinson TP, Grenfell BT et al. Reducing antimicrobial use in food animals. Science 2017;357:1350–1352.
  13. Murray CJ, Ikuta KS, Sharara F, Swetschinski L, Robles Aguilar G, Gray A et al. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. Lancet 2022;399,629–655.
  14. Hayek MN. The infectious disease trap of animal agriculture. Sci Adv. 2022;doi: 10.1126/sciadv.add6681.
  15. Crippa M, Solazzo E, Guizzardi D, Monforti-Ferrario F, Tubiello FN, Leip A. Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nat Food 2021;2:198–209.
  16. Springmann M, Clark MA, Rayner M, Scarborough P, Webb P. The global and regional costs of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns: a modelling study. Lancet Planet Heal 2021;doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00251-5.
  17. Office of Health Economics. Could plant-based diets transform health care spending? Available at: https://www.ohe.org/insight/could-plant-based-diets-transform-health-care-spending
  18. NYV Health and Hospitals. Mayor Adams & NYC Health + Hospitals Announce Successful Rollout and Expansion of Plant-Based Meals as Primary Option for Patients in NYC Public Hospitals. Published 29 September 2022. Available at: www.nychealthandhospitals.org/pressrelease/mayor-adams-nyc-health-hospitals-announce-successful-rollout-and-expansion-of-plant-based-meals-as-primary-option-for-patients-in-nyc-public-hospitals/
  19. Hull SC, Charles J, Caplan AL. Are We What We Eat? The Moral Imperative of the Medical Profession to Promote Plant-Based Nutrition. American Journal of Cardiology 2023;188:15–21.
  20. Kassam S, Freeman L. It’s time for healthcare professionals to demand a plant-based food system. British Journal of General Practice 2021;71:554.

Reframing how we think about climate change

  1. Yusoff K, Gabrys J. Climate change and the imagination. WIREs Clim Change, 2011;2:516–534.
  2. Pigott A. Imagining socioecological transformation: An analysis of the Welsh Government’s policy innovations and orientations to the future. Elememta: Science of the Anthropocene, 2018;6:60–78.
  3. Shubin S, Seagrove A, Rapport F. Complex and dynamic times of being chronically ill: beyond disease trajectories of patients with ulcerative colitis. Social Science and Medicine,2015;147:105–112.
  4. Beljaars D, Shubin S, Condon L. The multiplicity of BAME migrant nurses’ vulnerabilities in South Wales. Country report, October 2023. COVINFORM H2020 Project No. 101016247. Available at: www.covinform.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2023/10/COVINFORM-Brochure-A4-Country-Report-Wales-The-multiplicity-of-BAME-migrant-nurses-vulnerabilities-in-South-Wales.pdf
  5. Shubin S. (ed.). A Canvas of Children's Lives: Stories from Assasuni, a village in Bangladesh. London, UK: Mantra Lingua, 2019.
  6. Thrift N. Intensities of feeling: towards a spatial politics of affect, Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 2004;86:57–78.
  7. Horton R. The COVID-19 catastrophe: What's gone wrong and how to stop it happening again. London, UK: Polity Press, 2021.

College news

Research Fellowship Start-up Grant

  1. The Royal College of Pathologists. The College’s strategy 2021–24. Available at: https://www.rcpath.org/static/b8cf82a2-836a-4d3b-ba6351f05425b2dd/RCPath-Strategy-202124.pdf   
  2. National Cancer Research Institute. Strategic priorities. Available at: https://www.ncri.org.uk/groups/pathology-group/strategic-priorities/
  3. The Royal College of Pathologists. Research Fellowship Start-up Grant. Available at: https://www.rcpath.org/profession/research-and-innovation/fellowship-research-start-up-grant.html