Climate Change Impacts on Environmental Toxins, and Its Health Effects

Abstract

Since the beginning of the industrial era, greenhouse gas emissions with the extensive anthropogenic changes to the earth globally have led to crucial changes in environmental and meteorological parameters that result in climate changes. This chapter will discuss the general picture of the impacts of climate change on human health in the form of extreme warming days, water scarcity, and water and air pollutions. Therefore, it will give a picture of infectious diseases related to climate change, especially vector- and water-borne diseases. Mental health problems related to climate change cannot be neglected. After that, this chapter will discuss in detail the impacts of climate change on the environmental toxins, especially air and water chemical and biological pollutants, and describe the association between climate change and the availability and the change in the constituent of these toxic pollutants. Also, the impact of these toxins on health will be targeted in this chapter, especially among vulnerable populations with different influential factors. The health effects from exposure to the chemical toxin affected by climate change will be mentioned in some detail with examples, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, particulate matters, and volatile organic compounds. The impact of climate change on the biological toxins will also be discussed in detail, with the focus on health impacts of the inhaled mycotoxins and the effect of climate change on its molecular toxicity.