Bad air harms children and young people in Europe

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It is estimated that high levels of air pollution with pollutants such as particulate matter lead to the premature death of more than 1,200 children and young people in Europe each year. It also significantly increases the risk of disease in adolescents later in life, according to reports released Monday by the European Environment Agency (EEA). According to experts, air pollution leads to more dangerous asthma attacks, among other things.

More needs to be done to protect children’s health from the negative effects of air pollution, says the Copenhagen-based EU agency. Despite improvements in recent years, exposure to various pollutants remains stubbornly above World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limits in many countries, particularly in Central Eastern Europe and Italy. The main reason for the fine dust pollution there is the combustion of solid fuels such as coal for heating and in industry.

In addition to the values ​​for particulate matter, those for ozone and nitrogen dioxide are still too high, according to the environmental service. Children and young people are particularly vulnerable because their organs and immune systems are still developing. All Europeans must be protected against bad air – but especially the children, demanded EMA director Hans Bruyninckx. Measures at EU, national and local level urgently need to be further strengthened “to protect our children who cannot protect themselves”. There is still a long way to go to truly clean air.

Lost future potential

According to EEA estimates, air pollution currently causes more than 1,200 premature deaths among minors in the 32 Member States – including the 27 EU countries, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Turkey. Although numbers in this age group are relatively low compared to the general population, deaths at an early age represent lost future potential.

“We cannot treat children like small adults when it comes to environmental risks and air pollution,” said EMA expert Gerardo Sanchez. Among other things, they would have a higher respiratory rate, breathe more through the mouth, stand closer to the ground and weigh less. Their biology is different, but so is the way they are exposed to air pollution. This can potentially have very serious health consequences, including reduced lung function, asthma and allergies.

To better protect children, the most important thing is to reduce air pollution at its source, that is, in traffic, industry and heating, Sanchez said. A good measure is also to focus on improving the air quality around schools and kindergartens, for example through more greenery. The EEA usually publishes a new estimate of the total number of premature deaths due to air pollution every autumn. Most recently, looking at the 2020 figures, there were almost 240,000 in the EU due to particulate matter alone. According to the WHO, around seven million people worldwide die prematurely each year as a result of air pollution.

Problematic cities

Especially in cities, there are often problems with excessive pollution levels. In the year 2021 analyzed, more than 90 percent of the urban population in EU countries had to live with levels of particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) above WHO recommendations. Particulate matter in the PM2.5 size class (less than 2.5 microns in diameter) is considered harmful and causes strokes, cancer and respiratory diseases. The WHO guideline values ​​are much stricter than the EU limit values.

There are also glimmers of hope in some places in the far south and north of the continent: the cities with the cleanest air in Europe, measured in terms of particulate pollution, are Faro in Portugal and Umeå and Uppsala in Sweden, as can be seen from the most recent comparative values ​​of 375 European cities. This is followed by Funchal (Portugal), Tallinn (Estonia), Tampere (Finland) and Reykjavik (Iceland). Kiel (19th place), Göttingen (22nd place) and Lübeck (26th place) have the best values ​​of the German cities, while Nuremberg (234th place), Berlin (238th place) and Gelsenkirchen (245th place) have the worst values. Munich is 54th, Hamburg 161st.

In general, environmentalists classify Germany differently depending on the pollutant: when it comes to particulate matter, the Federal Republic is in the upper midfield of the countries analysed, but when it comes to nitrogen dioxide, which mainly comes from road traffic, it is it fares worst because of the high volume of traffic. (SDA)

Source: Blick