Air pollution cuts life expectancy

A report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) has shown that air pollution is still at dangerous levels in Europe, with those living in the most severely affected areas a life expectancy two years below the region's average.

Janez Potočnik, EU commissioner for the environment, summarised: "Air pollution is bad for our health. It reduces human life expectancy by more than eight months on average and by more than two years in the most polluted cities and regions."

Despite being a continent-wide problem, some areas are much more affected than others. The most polluted city in the UK is Glasgow, ranking the fifth most polluted in the entire continent.

Life expectancy is cut due to a range of effects ranging from mild to severe as concentration or exposure increases.

Some of the effects are from direct exposure to polluted air, but other effects stem from indirect contact, for example the intake of pollutants transported through the air which are then deposited in our food.

The most serious risks to our health are particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O3) pollution.

As well as having a negative impact on humans, this level of air pollution is also detrimental to the environment.

"Several air pollutants are also climate forcers, having a potential impact on the planet's climate and global warming in the short term (decades)," the report said, highlighting the continent-wide need to strengthen EU air quality laws.

"European Union policy has reduced emissions of many pollutants over the last decade, but we can go further," EEA executive director Jacqueline McGlade said in a statement.

The review is intended to inform the European Commission's Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution of the legislative need to tackle air pollution as they go to review in 2013.

Posted by Claire Manning