ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION

Smog emergency across Europe, in Italian cities PM 10 alarm and ozone peaks.
European Environment Agency (EEA) presented today its annual report “Air Quality 2014” that
collects the data recovered by the official monitoring stations across Europe and demonstrates that
“Almost everyone who lives in a city is exposed to polluting substances with levels considered unsafe
by the World Health Organization (WHO). About some pollutants, more than 95% of urban
population is exposed to dangerous levels”.
The EEA executive director, Hans Bruyninckx, while presenting the report stated that:” The level of
atmospheric pollution in Europe is still high. This generates high costs: regarding our natural
systems, our economy, the efficiency of European labor force and above all, regarding the health of
all Europeans.”
The most dangerous pollutant is fine dust, particles able to deeply penetrate in our lungs and Eea
evidences that “The long-term exposure to particulate is one of the main causes of premature
deaths provoked by atmospheric pollution in Europe in 2011.” Furthermore, the study
demonstrates that: “Also high levels of tropospheric ozone, even in short times, caused a substantial
number of deaths.”
During the last decade, within the EU, the levels of the majority of atmospheric pollutants slightly
decreased, including particulate and ozone, but the nitrogen dioxide (NO2), has not decreased at
the expected rate, “this happens partially, because cars are a huge source of NO2 and the vehicles
regulations not always resulted in the reductions expected.” The pollutant that increased more over
the last 10 years is benzo(e)pyrene (BaP):” The atmospheric concentration of this pollutant
increased by one fifth between 2003 and 2012, due to the more frequent use in big cities of
woodstoves and biomass heating-according to the report-. In 2009, almost 9 inhabitants of cities
out of 10 were exposed to BaP levels higher that WHO reference levels.”
The Eea reminds that: “an increasing number of scientific resources shows that atmospheric
pollutants can be more dangerous than people thought. The impact of atmospheric pollution on
respiratory and hearth diseases was already known, but the recent studies demonstrated that it
could affect health in different ways, from fetal development to diseases in old age. While the most
part of the damage derives from a long-term exposure, also a short-term one could be very
dangerous.