Filenews 11 November 2021
Europe's cities could avoid 114,000 premature deaths every year - around 58,000 from microparticles and 56,000 from nitrogen dioxide - if they adopted the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations on caps, published in September this year.
This is the conclusion of a new scientific study, which also includes estimates of the benefit that Greek cities would have if they applied the new stricter limits for air pollution.
Based on the new WHO guidelines, which were revised after 16 years, the maximum recommended levels of air pollutants are much lower than those in force since 2005: the average annual concentrations of PM2.5 microparticles (up to 2.5 millionths of a metre in diameter) should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic metre of air (compared to 10 μg/m3 before) and nitrogen dioxide 10 μg/m3 (compared to 40 μg/m3 before).
Researchers at the Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal) in Barcelona, who made the relevant publication in the medical journal "The Lancet Planetary Health" (this is an update, following the new WHO guidelines, of a previous study in the same journal in January this year), estimate that the new recommendations for PM2.5 microparticles could lead, if applied, an 113% increase in the number of avoidable premature deaths in European cities, compared to the earlier WHO recommendations of 2005. This equates to 109,188 fewer premature deaths per year, compared to 51,213 based on previous recommendations, an additional "gain" of about 58,000 lives.
Similarly, the implementation of the new stricter WHO recommendations on nitrogen dioxide could prevent up to 57,030 premature deaths in European cities, compared to only 900 based on the previous lower limits of the recommendations since 2005, an extra profit of about 56,000 lives.
The study estimates that, based on the new WHO recommendations, almost all (99.8%) of Europe's urban population lives in areas with levels of air pollutants above those recommended. The researchers called on the European Union to adopt the WHO's recommendations. According to the current EU pollutant limits, the average annual concentration of PM2.5 microparticles should not exceed 25 micrograms per cubic metre of air (compared to 5 μg/m3 in the new WHO recommendations), while nitrogen dioxide should not exceed an average level per year 40 micrograms per cubic metre of air (compared to the new WHO recommendation for a maximum of 10 μg/m3).
The benefit in terms of reduced premature mortality, if the EU were to align itself with the who's lower limits, seems greater in the case of nitrogen dioxide: Madrid, for one hand, could avoid an extra 1,311 annual deaths (instead of 206 under the old WHO limits), Paris 1,440 (instead of 185), Barcelona 1,034 (instead of 82), Turin 386 (instead of 34), etc.
The researchers made a ranking of 1,000 European cities (ISGlobal Ranking of Cities). Those with the highest mortality due to microparticles are Bresque and Bergamo in Italy, while those with the lowest are Reykjavik in Iceland and Tromso in Norway.
The Greek cities
The Greek cities with the greatest burden of mortality from microparticles appear to be Serres (position 30 internationally – it is estimated that 512 annual premature deaths could be avoided if the new WHO limits were in force), Thessaloniki (position 64 – 71 fewer deaths), Athens (position 74 – 16 fewer deaths) and Larissa (position 72 – 612 fewer deaths).
The highest premature mortality due to nitrogen dioxide is in turn in Madrid, Antwerp (Belgium), Turin, Paris, Milan and Barcelona, while the lowest are Tromso and Umea (Sweden).
Among the Greek cities, the one with the greatest benefit in reduced mortality if the new WHO ceilings for nitrogen dioxide were applied, would be Athens with 3,433 fewer premature deaths per year (compared to 2,141 based on the older WHO limits, i.e. an extra benefit of 1,292 lives), Thessaloniki (719 fewer deaths compared to 488) and Larissa (134 fewer deaths compared to 89).
Source: ANA – MPA
