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Should Doctors Be Increasing Their Carbon Footprint by Flying to Medical Conferences

June 27, 2008 at 1:01 PM General Health News
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Should Doctors Be Increasing Their Carbon Footprint by Flying to Medical Conferences
Every year thousands of doctors and scientists fly to meetings all over the world, but with climate change accelerating, can this type of travel be justified, two doctors debate the issue in this week’s BMJ.


Flying across continents in great numbers to exchange information will soon become as outdated and unsuitable to the modern world as the fax machine and the horse-drawn carriage, writes Professor Malcolm Green, from Imperial College, London.

Driving less and low energy light bulbs can contribute a little to reducing our carbon footprint, but if doctors stop going to international conferences they could make a real difference and be seen to be taking the lead, he argues.

In 2006, over 15 000 doctors and scientists from all over the world attended the American Thoracic Society meeting in the US. The flying delegates produced about 10 800 tonnes of carbon, representing 100 million person air miles. If you add in all the conferences all over the world this would equate to about 600 000 tonnes of carbon a year, says Green, and this is without including the energy costs of large hotels and enormous conference centres.

With the advent of teleconferencing, videoconferencing and other modern technologies there is no reason why doctors cannot attend virtual medical conferences, an already highly successful and common practice in organisations such as oil companies and financial institutions, he concludes.

But Professor James Owen Drife, from Leeds General Infirmary, argues that giving up medical conferences will have only a minuscule effect on global warming.

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