In June 2007 the EU adopted its mid-term review of the 2004-2010 EU Action Plan on Environment and Health . The review, presented in Vienna at a meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO), reaffirms the Commission’s commitment to the health and environment process.

The European Environment and Health Action Plan was adopted by the Commission following the adoption of the Environment and Health Strategy, in 2003. Whilst the Strategy’s ultimate objective is to reduce the disease burden caused by environmental factors in the EU, the Action Plan aims to make this possible through the creation of a sound knowledge base.

The Environment and Health Action Plan comprises 13 actions, which focus on the following:
  Improving the information chain by developing integrated environment & health information
  Filling the knowledge gap by strengthening research on environment & health and identifying emerging issues
  Reviewing and adjusting risk reduction policy and improving communication.

Overall, the review paints a positive picture of the progress achieved so far in implementing the action plan’s 13 tasks. Whilst it notes that completing the work by 2010 will be “challenging”, the overriding conclusions are that EU-wide monitoring systems and assessment strategies relating to environment and health are improving, enabling better information gathering.

Several key positive developments have occurred since 2004, including the adoption of the last of the air quality “daughter” directives, the adoption of a number of proposals by the Commission with a view to banning mercury, and the final adoption of REACH regulation, amongst others.

Review recommendations for future work include boosting efforts on research and human biomonitoring (HBM), improving data collection procedures and increasing linkages between existing systems.

Christian Farrar-Hockley from HEAL said of the Review: "What we have here is a very politically astute communication. It shows that the commission is definitely committed to the health and environment agenda.”

Further information can be found in the Commission Staff Working Document and on the European Environment and Health Homepage.