Energy | Nature

Pollution cuts life expectancy by one year in Europe: EEA report

Pollution is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people every year, according to a new report by the European Environment Agency.
Posted : Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:11:09 GMT
By : Darya Zarin
Category : Environment
News Alerts by Email ( click here )
Environment News | Home
Pollution is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people every year, according to a new report by the European Environment Agency.

The report, titled, 'Europe's environment - The fourth assessment', says that economic activities like agriculture, tourism, transport and energy are the main pressure factors on the region's environment. The report also said that added pressure on the environment was cutting down life expectancy by at least one year.

This was especially true in Belgium, the Netherlands, northern Italy and parts of Poland and Hungary, it added. The report is the latest in such pan-European environment assessment reports released over the last 15 years by the EEA. Overall 53 countries supporting 870 million people were assessed.

"Poor air quality is still causing hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in Europe every year and continues to damage crops and ecosystem health," the report said. "The estimated annual loss of life is significantly greater than that due to car accidents."

It added that the air pollution scenario was really bad in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia where there has been a 10 percent jump in greenhouse gas emissions. The report also says that some 700 European species are under threat because of air pollution.

Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA said that while progress has been made as in improved wastewater treatment, there needs to be more concrete action taken in order to reduce the impact of air pollution in Europe.

"We need to further strengthen the will to act on environmental issues across the pan-European region. This requires a better understanding of the problems we face, their nature and distribution across societies and generations," she added.

Copyright, respective author or news agency

Share/Save/Bookmark

Article : Pollution cuts life expectancy by one year in Europe: EEA report
Print this article
Email this article

Stay Updated
News gadget on your Google homepage
Subscribe to a news feed in Google Reader


Related News

EU launches online pollution tracker
Brussels - European Union citizens are now able to check how bad for their health industrial plants near their homes are, after the EU's executive on Monday opened an online tracker for the main pollutants. The register will give citizens direct acc...

Economic recovery, climate change tops G20 meeting - Update
St Andrews, Scotland - Finance ministers from the world's 20 leading economies were meeting Saturday in the Scottish golf resort of St Andrews in a bid to reinforce signs of a tentative recovery that have emerged in the global eoncomy. But coming in ...

Can anyone save a Copenhagen climate treaty? - Feature
Brussels - It is not often that negotiators call talks a failure before they have begun, but that seemed the case on Friday ahead of United Nations climate-change talks in Copenhagen. ...

Binding climate treaty in Copenhagen deemed unlikely - Summary
Barcelona - Negotiators from several European and developing countries stressed Friday the need for a legally binding treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol but conceded such a deal may not be reached at the upcoming Copenhagen climate conference....

India, EU leaders hold talks on trade, climate change
New Delhi - Leaders from India and the European Union began discussions at a summit Friday during which both sides were expected to give a boost to negotiations for a free-trade pact and expand cooperation in areas ranging from counter-terrorism to c...

Key Senate panel approves climate bill; Republicans boycott - Summary
Washington - A key Senate committee approved a landmark climate bill Thursday that would force US companies to curb greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming. But the 11-1 vote in the Senate Environment Committee was boycotted by opposition ...

Key Senate panel approves climate bill; Republicans boycott
Washington - A key Senate committee approved a landmark climate bill Thursday that would force US companies to curb greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming. But the 11-1 vote in the Senate Environment Committee was boycotted by opposition ...

Have your Say
Name
Email
Subject
Your Comment

Enter Verification code
 
  

 

 

More Environment News click here
Follow The Earth Times
Subscribe to RSS Follow Earth Times on TwitterNews by email
Share/Save/Bookmark

 
 



 
Subscribe to free Earthtimes
News Alerts by Email Click here
For RSS Feeds Click here
or Create your own RSS

Add to Google Toolbar
Breaking News
Press Releases

 
 
European Environment Agency


The Earth Times
News Category

© 2009 www.earthtimes.org, The Earth Times, All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy
Earth Times accept no responsibility or liability either directly or indirectly for views or opinions expressed in articles or comments.