Air pollution with particulate matter (PM) claims an average of 8.6 months from the life of every person in the European Union (EU), but Germans lose more: 10.2 months of life in the year 2000. Today in Berlin, the WHO Regional Office for Europe spells out the recently evaluated cost of air pollution to human health.
Evidence indicates that PM increases deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Even a short-term rise in PM concentrations increases the risk of emergency hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory causes. PM comprises tiny particles, varying in size, composition and origin. Inhaled, the coarse fraction (PM10 - particles with a diameter smaller than 10 m) may reach the upper part of the airways and lung). What are called fine particles (PM2.5 -with a diameter smaller than 2.5 m) are more dangerous, as they penetrate more deeply into the lung and may reach the alveolar region.
Council Directive 99/30/EC sets down limit values for PM10: 50 g/m3 for the 24-hour average and 40 g/m3 for the annual average. Current policies to reduce emissions of air pollutants by 2010 are expected to save 2.3 months of life for the EU population and 2.7 months of life for the population of Germany. This is the equivalent of preventing 80 000 premature deaths and saving over 1 million years of life in the EU; the corresponding figures for Germany are about 17 000 premature deaths and over 240 000 years of life (see Fact sheet EURO/04/05 of 14 April 2005).
Since long-term exposure to PM is particularly damaging to human health and reduces life expectancy, reducing long-term PM concentrations and exposure is a priority. This would also bring important financial savings. In the EU, the estimated annual monetary benefit from decreased population mortality attributed to PM is 58-161 billion, and savings on the costs of diseases attributed to PM account for 29 billion. The corresponding figures for Germany are 13-34 billion and 6 billion per year, respectively.
"Measures to reduce the effects of air pollution on health and extend life expectancy already exist and work", says Dr Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "The data presented today emphasize that health damage due to PM exposure, its costs for European society and the ability of the current European legislation to reduce this impact, are critical arguments for the continuation and strengthening of all stakeholders' efforts to reduce air pollution."
In many cities, current concentrations of PM10 exceed the EU limit values established. In the first 3 months of 2005, for example, the daily limit value was exceeded on more than 30 days in several German cities.
Transport and use of fossil fuel in households are the major contributors to PM air pollution. In particular, diesel combustion contributes a third of total emissions of PM2.5. In 2000, Germany contributed up to 14% of total primary PM10 emissions in the EU, and up to 13% of primary PM2.5 emissions. The projected decline in PM10 and PM2.5 emissions in the period 2000-2020 is expected to be slower in Germany than in the rest of the EU.
Owing to the transboundary movement of PM, a substantial part of concentrations in a country originates in emissions from other countries. For example, it has been estimated that, on average, 41% of PM2.5 concentrations in Germany is of German origin. The rest is due to transboundary air pollution: for example, 14% is emitted in France. On the other hand, German emissions contribute to PM2.5 in other countries: for example, 21% of the total in Denmark and 20% in the Czech Republic.
"The transboundary nature of PM pollution requires that all countries take measures that will benefit the European population," comments Dr. Roberto Bertollini, Director of the Special Programme on Health and Environment at the WHO Regional Office for Europe. "The German contribution is essential in this respect, both to protect the health of the German population and to help reduce exposure in neighbouring countries and in the WHO European Region as a whole."
Reducing PM to benefit health
Studies have been unable to identify a threshold concentration below which ambient PM has no effect on health. Although the reduction of PM levels to the EU limit values for 2005 is a key measure to benefit health, it will not eliminate all significant health effects of PM exposure. This means it is important to reduce PM pollution more than expected under the current legislation. Cost-effective methods already exist to accomplish this task.
Activities to manage air quality at the local, regional and national levels need to be integrated to improve air quality in cities. Taking such measures as traffic management or improved urban design at the local level alone may be very cost-effective in reducing the exposure of people living in hot spots, but of limited effectiveness for the protection of society as a whole. Providing alternatives to private motorized vehicles, particularly public and non-motorized transport such as trains, cycling and walking, may lead to changes in people's behaviour and would reduce traffic congestion and influence long-term trends in transport demand and pollution emission.
Other measures - such as increasing energy efficiency, using cleaner fuels in households, industry and vehicles, and using end-of-pipe controls such as particle filters - are also important for the reduction of pollution and population exposure. They are not sufficient, however, without society's commitment to clean air. Long-term planning, fiscal incentives, legislative measures and communication with the public are all necessary to achieve this result.
WHO and the European Commission are working together on the long-term Clean Air for Europe (CAFE) programme to develop an integrated policy to protect health and the environment against significant negative effects of air pollution, and on the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, which will serve as a basis for national strategies on pollution abatement. More information on these issues is available on the web site of the WHO Regional Office for Europe (http://www.euro.who.int/air)
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