"C.D.C. Girds for Climate Change"

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced their first-ever direct grants to states and cities to study the potential effects of climate change in the United States.

Some $5.25 million will be split among eight states and two cities seeking to evaluate and mitigate health impacts from everything from hotter summers to an anticipated increase in waterborne illness resulting from flooding as glaciers melt and raise sea levels, the centers said.

Many of the grants will be used simply to assess what dangers may lie ahead, said Dagny E.P. Olivares, a health communications specialist with the centers. Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and San Francisco, for example, will each will receive up to $360,000 over the next three years to help local governments evaluate potential risks to the most vulnerable groups."

Leslie Kaufman reports for the New York Times October 12, 2010.