Polluted air in Europe in 2016 led to around 400,000 premature deaths. Almost all people in European cities are exposed to polluted air, the European Environment Agency warns in a recent report. "Air pollution is currently the biggest environmental threat to human health."
In its Air Quality Report 2019, the European Authority assesses the risk of various air pollutants for 41 countries in 2016, using data from more than 4,000 monitoring stations across Europe.
- According to the report, 412,000 people died prematurely from particulate matter that is smaller than 2.5 micrometers and can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract. Due to the fine dust 4.2 million years of life were lost according to the calculations. Around 374,000 of the deaths affected people in the European Union.
- 71,000 people died prematurely because they were exposed to nitrogen dioxide . The gas causes especially asthmatic problems and thus led to 707,000 lost years of life.
- According to the report, 15,100 people died prematurely due to ozone , and the substance can also affect the respiratory tract. He thus led to 160,000 lost years of life throughout Europe.
Since some of the pollutants come together as a cause of death, the numbers can not be easily added. For the European Union, the report comes to a total of 400,000 people who died prematurely due to air pollution.
Influence of particulate matter lobbyists
Compared to last year's calculations, the figures have declined slightly and air quality has improved in many cities in Western and Southern Europe, including Germany. However, this development was too slow, criticized study author Alberto Gonzáles Ortiz. "We have not yet reached the European standards - we are still far from those of the World Health Organization."
Nino Künzli, Deputy Director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), sees the situation in principle as positive: "The EEA report clearly shows that the World Health Organization's proposed levels of air pollutants can be met if policies allow Sets goals, "he told the Science Media Center.
This can be seen in the example of nitrogen oxides: "The annual mean values are only ten percent of all monitoring stations above the WHO proposed and set by the EU limit value of 40 micrograms per cubic meter Without fraud scandals, the situation would be even better."
On the other hand, 69 percent of the measuring stations missed the World Health Organization's annual reference value of 10 micrograms per cubic meter. "For years, the EU refuses to anchor this benchmark by law," Künzli criticized. "Instead, the EU has anchored in the directive - which is far too high - an average annual average of 25 micrograms per cubic meter for particulate matter - even today."
Fewer cars - a win-win situation
In principle, the EU requires its member states to comply with certain pollutant limits. In June, the European Court of Justice tightened the regulations. Cities have to be active even when limits are exceeded at a single location - and not just when the average values of different stations are too high. In Germany, according to the Federal Environment Agency in 2018 in 57 cities violated the EU limit value for nitrogen dioxide.
To reduce air pollution, especially with nitrogen dioxide, is an important step in reducing the number of cars in cities, says Ortiz. "When we fight air pollution, we also fight climate change, too much noise and promote healthy behavior," says Ortiz. "It's a win-win situation."
In addition to car traffic contribute to power plants, the industry in general and agriculture to air pollution.
