This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
If your granddaughter has a fever of 105, is comatose, and has symptoms of meningococcal meningitis, do you wait for still more proof of the disease, or do you start treatment immediately? If you wait one day, the child may be dead. You want treatment now!
How about a planet undergoing scientifically diagnosed global warming, with the predicted violent weather event symptoms: tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, forest fires, reduced agricultural productivity, with rising food prices and tropical diseases in previously temperate climates? Do you wait for more proof of global warming disease, or do you start treatment immediately?
As a medical scientist, my diagnosis is: serious disease, start treatment now.
The worldwide scientist community has concluded that we are suffering from a planetary disease called global warming. How many people have to die before we disregard business interests that make false claims that deny that we have this treatable disease?
We deprive ourselves of life-saving treatment because some of us, including misguided politicians, say that maybe we don't have global warming. Shall our planet die while we argue whether or not to start treatment?
Sherman Bloom
Salt Lake City