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A coalition of Quebec physicians on Tuesday issued a blunt prognosis for the public’s health — climate change has become the province’s biggest health risk.

Saying they see the effects first hand in their emergency rooms, the coalition, part of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), issued a symbolic “code blue” — the alert for a patient in cardiac arrest, said coalition spokesperson Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers.

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CAPE met with reporters on Tuesday to call on citizens to mobilize against climate change, saying the link between that change and human health is clear. The coalition cited increasingly frequent and extreme heat waves, the arrival locally of species of insects that cause ailments such as Lyme disease because of warming temperatures, and worsening air pollution responsible for outbreaks of asthma and other cardio-respiratory diseases.

The health professionals are urging Quebecers to pressure their elected officials to reduce our dependence on oil, expand public and active transportation and hasten the increase of green spaces in urban centres.

Those measures will reduce ER visits, hospital stays and chronic illnesses, the group contends.

CAPE also invited the public to attend a public demonstration as part of Earth Week scheduled for Saturday.