Review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution –REVIHAAP Project - Technical Report
The WHO European Centre for Environment and Health
WHO Regional Office for Europe
2013
The adverse effects on health of particulate matter (PM) are especially well documented. There is no evidence of a safe level of exposure or a threshold below which no adverse health effects occur. More than 80% of the population in the WHO European Region (including the European Union, EU) livesin cities with levels of PM exceeding WHO Air Quality Guidelines.
Only a slightly decreasing trend in average concentrations has been observed in countries in the EU over the last decade. Pollution from PM creates a substantial burden of disease, reducing life expectancy by almost 9 months on average in Europe. Since even at relatively low concentrations the burden of air pollution on health is significant, effective management of air quality that aims to achieve WHO Air Quality Guidelines levels is necessary to reduce health risks to a minimum. Exposure to air pollutants is largely beyond the control of individuals and requires action by public authorities at the national, regional and international levels.
Exposure to air pollutants is largely beyond the control of individuals and requires action by public authorities at the national, regional and international levels. A multisectoral approach, engaging such relevant sectors as transport, housing, energy production and industry,is needed to develop and effectively implement long-term policies that reduce the risks of air pollution to health.
In summary, positive and statistically significant short-term associations of NO2 with all-cause and cause-specific mortality have been reported in the new studies published since the 2005 global update of the WHO air quality guidelines. Robustness of the short-term NO2 associations to adjustment for particles (mainly PM10, and sometimes PM2.5 or black smoke) and other pollutants has been demonstrated in multicity studies from various geographic locations, including Europe.
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/p ... .pdf?ua=1/
(my bold)
Unequivocally dangerous, pollution.
VW has confessed to illegally manufacturing and selling vehicles designed to by-pass lawful regulatory emissions tests for years now.
They've confessed to having lied about the amount of pollution going into the atmosphere we all have to use.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... ysis-shows
Those diesels emit NO2 and small particulates, black soot.
This pollution kills people.
Current Government transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin's web page linked below includes the link to VW.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/gove ... -tax-costs
McLoughlin's response to UK owners of over 1.2 million illegally manufactured automobiles is to ask
VW, the fraudulent, criminal private industry making those products, for advice about what to do.
The part in bold above quoted from the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health report again here,
"
Exposure to air pollutants is largely beyond the control of individuals and requires action by public authorities at the national, regional and international levels. A multisectoral approach, engaging such relevant sectors as transport, housing, energy production and industry,is needed to develop and effectively implement long-term policies that reduce the risks of air pollution to health."
...is essential to understand in order to appreciate how helpless and afraid I am about this issue. My eyes, throat and head hurt due to current pollution levels in the UK. My husband suffers from asthma and so we both live with a compromised atmosphere, just like everyone else does, some more than others. There's a lot things making up the pollution that have caused this right now. It's not just VW emissions.
There's only one solution to a problem of this magnitude and current leadership aren't acting with sufficient promptness or vigour. That means people will die. Global leadership from government, regulatory bodies and industry have the power and authority to do something about pollution emissions and stop the suffering and death. They're responsible for the poor health and deaths due to pollution they’ve chosen to do nothing about.
I ask them to act now to lead us all into a sustainable place where people don't die because of a product sold is dangerously polluting the environment everyone depends upon.
