Changes in climate 'to kill millions'

Global warming kills 123,000 people a year but the figure is likely to rise by millions, an expert warned yesterday.

Rising temperatures will lead to more regular and extreme heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms, said Prof Jonathan Patz.

His prediction came as British cinemas prepared for today's release of the latest Hollywood disaster movie, The Day After Tomorrow. Prof Patz said: 'Evidence suggests climate change will increase malnutrition and outbreaks of infectious diseases in the 21st century.

'Although the doomsday scenarios in the film may be far from reality, the slower march of climate change still presents a formidable challenge for the health sector and society as a whole.'

The film dramatises the catastrophic results of global warming caused by the melting of the polar ice caps.

Tidal waves engulf much of America's East Coast and tornados destroy Los Angeles. Prof Patz, of Johns Hopkins University in the US, said: 'Although the probability of this is low, according to climatologists, the scenario of abrupt climate change has certainly caught Hollywood's imagination.

'Extreme weather events have also caught the concern of health experts following last year's heatwave, which killed an estimated 15,000 people in France.'