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News and Media

Stepping up Dutch climate action for a healthy future for our children

  • 19th December 2019
The swift closing of the 3 additional coal power plants would not only deliver the missing 9 Mt of emission cuts the Netherlands still needs to additionally reduce for the year 2020, they would also deliver very tangible and immediate benefits to health, by reducing health costs of up to 263,273 Euros, and preventing over 25,000 lost working days due to illness annually.  Nearly 1,500 asthma attacks by children would also be prevented. The government has been appealing the Urgenda verdict for 4 years - it should recognise that accepting and executing it will be a blessing. For this week, I am looking to our Parliament and our government to reconfirm a commitment to a swift and urgent coal phase out before 2030 and the pathway to it - for decisive climate and clean air action, and the substantial benefit for our children in the short and long term.
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The European Green Deal identifies right areas for action but more urgency needed to meet zero pollution ambition and benefit health

  • 11th December 2019
Today, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal plan that sets out many environmental health issues, where the European Union policies such as climate, air or chemicals, can help deliver a zero pollution objective and better health protection for all. However, to achieve the transformational, systemic change needed to address the magnitude of the challenges the world is facing today, the timeline and scope of the European Green Deal will have to better reflect the evidence which clearly makes the case for more urgent action.
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A European Green Deal that strives for a healthy planet for healthy people is putting zero pollution and health protection at its core

  • 4th December 2019
HEAL together with members called on the European College of Commissioners and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to translate the support they have expressed for environmental health protection during their parliamentary hearings into tangible and impactful policy proposals and legislation. Zero pollution and health protection need to be at the core of the Commission’s flagship European Green Deal. It is essential that the European Green Deal delivers on climate change, on clean air and on health protection from hazardous chemicals, including endocrine disrupting chemicals.
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New EU Commission needs to walk the talk on clean air

  • 29th November 2019
The Commission Staff Working Document on the Fitness Check of the Ambient Air Quality Directives, published today, makes it abundantly clear that it is necessary and beneficial to have European air quality standards. At the same time, the assessment points out that standards need to be implemented and applied rigorously, and that the current standards are not fully based on the latest science and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.
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New-born babies in intensive care units exposed to health-harming endocrine disruptors BPA and parabens, new study shows

  • 27th November 2019
New research published today finds that new-borns in intensive care units are in contact with a variety of medical products that contain bisphenol A (BPA) and parabens. Infants are particularly vulnerable to the effects from these endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), causing scientists and health groups alike to demand more comprehensive regulation of EDCs across the board for better protection.
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