In an article in The Times on 25 May, Muir Gray likens climate change to the Victorian scourge of cholera, and calls for a public health revolution in response. "Smoking, Aids, swine flu? They all pale into insignificance compared to climate change’s threat to health."

The stimulus for Muir Gray's article is the recent Lancet Commission on managing the health effects of climate change published on 16th May.  The 40 page report, produced jointly with UCL, opens "Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century" and lays out a policy framework for tackling the intertwined challenges of climate change, poverty and inequity.

Muir Gray calls on the medical profession to make personal changes, sign the Climate and Health Council pledge, and lobby their MPs face to face on this critical issue.  The article has provoked vigorous debate on the science of global warming and the role for doctors in responding to the threat.

To read the full article and responses in Times Online, click here.
To see the Lancet Commission on managing the health effects of climate change, click here.