HEAL was honoured to host renowned epidemiologist Dr. Shanna Swan in Brussels in May 2025. She met with different stakeholders to discuss impact of pollution to reproductive health. To specifically assess sperm decline, Dr. Swan has examined hundreds of scientific studies and conducted her own, which all indicate that sperm count is declining globally. This is the case even when controlling for all variables such as genetic and lifestyle factors.
Today, the health groups Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Associations (EFA), European Respiratory Society (ERS), International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) Europe, Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) and Mutualités Libres/Onafhankelijke Ziekenfondsen sent a letter to all members of the European Parliament.
Ahead of your vote on the revision of the EU’s clean air standards the undersigned organisations, representing the European health sector, including medical doctors, healthcare professionals, patients and health insurers, urged MEPs to step up on the Commission’s proposal, to reduce ill-health and health cost swiftly and significantly. The updating of the EU’s clean air standards is a unique and not-to-be-missed opportunity for preventing premature death and the health burden from chronic disease including respiratory disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, heart disease, strokes, and cancer.
To ensure that people across Europe breathe clean air, health groups urged MEPs to support the Lopez report as adopted in the ENVI committee in June 2023 when voting on the revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directives (procedure file 2022/0347(COD)) in next week’s plenary session.
Read the full letter here
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