Significant health risks due to particulate matter

RW Ministry of the Environment identifies significant health risks due to particulate matter. Mortality on major roads almost doubled due to particulate matter pollution

31/03/2011

The particulate matter pollution on major roads represents a serious health risk dar. This was the Ministry of Environment of North Rhine-Westphalia in the presentation of a comprehensive study on the relationship between air pollution, place of residence and mortality rate of women in NRW.

The Ministry of the Environment North Rhine-Westphalia has the results of his „Fine dust cohort study women NRW 2008“ which show that women living closer to 50 meters on a major road are subject to more than 40 percent more general mortality. For certain causes of death such as cardiovascular diseases, the risk is even increased by almost 80 percent.

Particulate matter causes a significant increase in mortality
In order to study the health effects of air pollution, the air pollutant data for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10) were selected within the framework of the study of the Ministry of the Environment NRW. These were compared with the mortality of about 4,800 women between the ages of 50-59 from regions of North Rhine-Westphalia with different levels of exposure. Here are the results of the current final report „alarming“, said NRW Environment Minister Johannes Remmel (Alliance 90 / The Greens). Both nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter cause a significant increase in mortality on major roads. The general mortality as well as the specific mortality in cardiovascular diseases (for example myocardial infarction), lung cancer, respiratory diseases are drastically increased by strong air pollution, warned the Ministry of the Environment NRW. According to the study, overall mortality rates are more than 40 percent higher at a residential location in the immediate vicinity of a major road and mortality from up to 80 percent for certain diseases.

Environmental zones to minimize health risks
For a long time, critics have been warning against the health consequences of the high level of air pollutants, but such clear scientific results on the long-term effects, as the study from NRW now presents, have hardly been available from official sources. Thus, the discussion about the establishment of environmental zones in city centers or traffic-intensive areas is again gaining in importance. Vehicles in the environmental zones may only drive with a corresponding badge certifying that the pollutant emissions are not above the prescribed levels. In particular, the fine dust pollution of the air should be significantly reduced.

In view of the alarming results of the current study, the NRW environment minister is also considering a far-reaching environmental zone for the Ruhr area in order to minimize the health risks for the population. For Johannes Remmel is there „the political question of comprehensive environmental justice“ in the room, because „Financially better-off population strata can afford to avoid pollutants and noise pollution in their choice of place of residence. Those who are socially disadvantaged often have no choice but to live in places where the noise level and pollution levels are high, such as the major roads. With that „eroded the fundamental right to physical integrity and a healthy life (...)“, stressed Remmel. (Fp)

Read on this topic:
Health hazard due to fine dust remains high
High blood pressure due to particulate matter in the city
Children: impaired growth through coal heating

Picture: O. Fischer