Really? Dem Congresswoman Says Climate Change Bigger Health Threat Than AIDS, Malaria, Flu

Is climate change a public health problem? Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) thinks so.

Capps pointed to a 2009 article in The Lancet, a medical journal, that said climate change could be the “biggest global health threat of the 21st century.”

“That makes climate change a bigger public health problem than AIDS, than malaria, than pandemic flu,” Capps said. “That’s why we need to take steps to address this cause behind this growing public health problem.”

Let's look at the figures, shall we?

Deaths from AIDS, malaria, and the flu: Millions.

Deaths from Climate Change: Zero.

Here's The Hill:

Just hours before a vote Wednesday on a GOP plan to block Environmental Protection Agency climate regulations, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) called climate change a bigger public health threat than AIDS, malaria and pandemic flu.

Capps and several other liberal Democrats spoke out Wednesday morning in opposition to the legislation, authored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

The lawmakers, who were joined by officials from the American Lung Association and the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the Upton bill would harm public health.

Capps pointed to a 2009 article in The Lancet, a medical journal, that said climate change could be the “biggest global health threat of the 21st century.”

“That makes climate change a bigger public health problem than AIDS, than malaria, than pandemic flu,” Capps said. “That’s why we need to take steps to address this cause behind this growing public health problem.”

Related story: The Blaze reported here that a UCLA professor has done research showing that nobody has died from the so-called diesel particulates--pollutants emitted by trucks and buses--that some say cause climate change.