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Air Quality
The effects of air pollution on human health range from mild changes in respiratory function, through increased respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity, to increased mortality. In children, outdoor air pollution is associated with acute lower respiratory tract infections, asthma, low birth weight, and impaired lung function. Overwhelming evidence now shows that small particles (PM10 and PM2.5) are largely responsible for these adverse health impacts and excess deaths.
Air quality is an issue of major concern to European citizens. Since the industrial revolution there has been a significant deterioration in the quality of the air we breathe, mainly as a result of the burning of fossil fuels and the dramatic increase in road traffic.
The European Commission’s Impact Assessment estimates that every year 369,980 people die prematurely because of air pollution. Moreover, premature death, health care and medication due to air pollution amount to between 3% and 9% of the EU GDP.
The Health and Environment Alliance has long advocated for the highest possible level of health protection in the EU air quality legislation, one that is based on the World Health Organisation’s new Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) and one that is ambitious enough to significantly reduce the number of deaths and ill health, with a particular attention for vulnerable groups including children.
In this section:
> New French study on air pollution impacts on mortality risk
> DG environment news alert on wood burning and traffic emissions impact on air quality
> New website on indoor air quality, construction sector and public health
> EEB and Acid Rain report on health benefits of cutting air pollution from Europe’s power plants
> EEA report on air pollution from electricity-generating large combustion plants
> European Commission welcomes final adoption of the air quality directive
> French agency and WHO partnership on indoor air quality
> New WHO report on heavy metals and long-range transboundary air pollution
> Research shows that air pollution exacerbates the health effects of climate change
> The health effects of non-industrial indoor air pollution
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Our issues
Contact person at HEAL:
Christian Farrar-Hockely, Senior Policy Advisor, tel.: 0032 2 234 3644
Science Update - A service by the European Lung Foundation
Resources on this issue:
- Dirty air and your lungs - Fact Sheet for children. Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Polish, Russian. Fact sheet: Outdoor air pollution and the lungs in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Greek, Polish and Russian. See our Publications section Policy paper: EU Strategy on Air Quality (2006) Letter to ENVI committee on EU Thematic Strategy on Air Quality (March 2006) Letter to Health and Environment Ministers on EU Health Air Quality Standards (October 2006)
Members active on this issue:
- European Respiratory Society European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patient’s Associations European Lung Foundation
Useful links:
Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) | 28 Boulevard Charlemagne, B1000 Brussels, Belgium
phone: +32 2 234 3640 | fax: +32 2 234 3649 | e-mail: info@env-health.org
The Health and Environment Alliance is grateful for the financial support of the European Commission, DG Environment. The views expressed in this website do not necessarily reflect the official views of the EU institutions.
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