In recent years, editors of medical, science, and bioethics journals have proclaimed almost every major societal problem to be a “health emergency” or crisis. Off the top of my head, I can think of several: guns, racism, immigration enforcement, global warming, abortion restrictions, and fear of future pandemics.

Now, the editors of The Lancet want to stoke fear of summer wildfires as the pretext to claim yet another public health emergency. From, “Wildfires, a Health Emergency:”

Europe is burning. Wildfires in France and Spain have engulfed hundreds of square miles of land, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of 330 000 people as the threat now moves east to Greece, Italy, and central Europe. The fires have been so large and intense that they have created their own weather systems. President Emmanuel Macron described the situation as France’s most severe crisis since the Second World War. The causes of Europe’s wildfires are multifactorial, but there is no doubt that climate change has spurred the record-breaking heatwaves that have turned the continent into a tinderbox. The result is a colossal health emergency.

Europe is burning. Wildfires in France and........

© National Review