2023-04-24 00:52:01
Even if the global trend is improving, air pollution remains the main environmental risk for the health of minors – just like that of adults -, and it cuts their life expectancy, reports the European Agency for environment (EEA).
“Air pollution causes more than 1,200 premature deaths per year among under-18s in Europe and significantly increases the risk of disease later in life”, writes the EEA in its report published Monday, April 24, covering some thirty countries on the continent, including the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU). Several countries – including the UK and Ukraine – are not part of the study, suggesting that the continental record is actually bleaker.
“Despite progress over the past years, the level of several major air pollutants continues to remain above World Health Organization guidelines, particularly in central and eastern Europe. , as well as in Italy », underlines the organization dependent on the European Union. The Po plain in northern Italy, areas close to large coal-fired power plants and major cities in the center and east of the continent are regularly singled out for poor air quality.
According to another report published by the EEA in November 2022, at least 238,000 people – of all ages – died prematurely in 2020 in Europe due to air pollution in the member countries of the agency (European Union , Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein).
97% of the urban population exposed to non-compliant air
Even if the share of children and teenagers impacted by air pollution is “relatively low” compared to the general population, dying so soon “represents a loss of potential future as well as a significant burden of chronic disease both in childhood and later in life”underlines the AEE.
The agency recommends focusing on air quality around schools and nurseries, as well as sports facilities and public transport. Harmful effects begin even before birth, maternal exposure to air pollution “being linked to low birth weights and premature births”recalls the environmental agency.
After birth, ambient pollution increases the risk of several health problems, including asthma – which affects 9% of children and adolescents in Europe – or respiratory insufficiency and infections, the agency also points out. These effects are aggravated by the fact that children are more physically active than adults and that their small size brings them closer to pollution – particularly car exhaust.
All ages combined, 97% of the urban population was exposed in 2021 to air that did not comply with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the latest data released on Monday.
On the right track anyway
In its November 2022 report, the EEA noted, however, that the European Union was on track to meet its target of reducing premature deaths by more than 50% by 2030 compared to 2005.
At the beginning of the 1990s, fine particles caused almost a million premature deaths in the 27 countries of the EU. In 2005, 431,000 people still died from it, according to agency data.
The situation in Europe, however, remains generally better than elsewhere on the planet: according to the WHO, air pollution is the cause of 7 million premature deaths per year in the world, a balance close to that caused by smoking or poor diet. Several hundred thousand of these deaths concern children under 15, according to the UN organization.
These heavy assessments had led it in September 2021 to establish more restrictive limits for the main air pollutants, for the first time since 2005. The most serious air pollution comes first from fine particles, which penetrate deep into the lungs. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3), according to health agencies.
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