INTRODUCTION
On 9 June 2004 the European Commission launched the European Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010 (the "Action Plan"), an initiative to address health problems related to pollution in the environment. The Action Plan was the Commission's main contribution to the WHO Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health which took place in Budapest in June 2004. That conference focussed on children under the theme "The future for our children".
The Action Plan has been developed to give the EU the scientifically grounded information needed to help Member States reduce the adverse health effects of certain environmental factors and to promote better co-operation between the environment, health and research sectors at EU and national level. It identifies 13 actions, which include initiatives on how to better understand the link between the environment and health, and to establish how environmental exposure leads to epidemiological effects. It also focuses on research activities, for example in the areas of asthma/allergy, neuro-developmental disorders, cancers and endocrine disrupting effects. It calls for schemes to raise awareness of the risks affecting the public, and the training of professionals in environment and health issues. It also looks at the feasibility of human biomonitoring (monitoring of blood, urine and hair samples to measure exposure to environmental pollutants) at European level.
THE LINK BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND POOR HEALTH
The effect of the environment on human health is significant. According to recent estimates approximately 25 - 33% of diseases worldwide are linked to environmental factors. The equivalent figure for industrialised economies such as the US and Europe is around 15%1.1 One sixth of the total number of cases of death and disease for children can be attributed to environmental factors.2 Furthermore, the recent European Environment Agency's assessment of the state of the environment in Europe reports that it is estimated that in large European cities, approximately 60,000 deaths per year are caused by long-term exposure to air pollution. Much remains to be discovered about the link between the environment and health. The Action Plan aims to fill this knowledge gap and pave the ground for new policy initiatives.
SUMMARY OF ACTION PLAN
The Action Plan can be summarised as follows.
1. IMPROVE THE INFORMATION CHAIN by developing integrated environment and health information to understand the links between sources of pollutants and health effects
- Action 1: Develop environmental health indicators
- Action 2: Develop integrated monitoring of the environment, including food, to allow the determination of relevant human exposure
- Action 3: Develop a coherent approach to biomonitoring in Europe
- Action 4: Enhance coordination and joint activities on environment and health
2. FILL THE KNOWLEDGE GAP by strengthening research on environment and health and identifying emerging issues
- Action 5: Integrate and strengthen European environment and health research
- Action 6: Target research on diseases, disorders and exposures
- Action 7: Develop methodological systems to analyse interactions between environment and health
Action 8: Ensure that potential hazards on environment and health are identified and addressed
3. RESPONSE: REVIEW POLICIES AND IMPROVE COMMUNICATION By developing Awareness Raising, Risk Communication, Training & Education to give citizens the information they need to make better health choices, and to make sure that professionals in each field are alert to environment and health interactions
- Action 9: Develop public health activities and networking on environmental health determinants through the public health programme
- Action 10: Promote training of professionals and improve organisational capacity in environment and health by reviewing and adjusting risk reduction policy
By reviewing and adjusting risk reduction policy
- Action 11: Coordinate ongoing risk reduction measures on the priority diseases
- Action 12: Improve indoor air quality
- Action 13: Follow developments regarding electromagnetic fields (EMF)
FOCUS ON CHILDREN
Issues relating to children are addressed throughout the Action Plan. A number of major child health issues are to be covered in the monitoring, including exposure to the environmental stressors to which children are particularly sensitive.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION PLAN
The Action Plan will be implemented by the Commission in close cooperation with Member States, stakeholder groups such as industry, and international organisations, such as the WHO and United Nations bodies. The Commission will use the information obtained as a result of its 13 actions to review the effectiveness of current policies in improving health. Interim and final reports on the Action Plan in 2007 and 2010 respectively will report on progress.
OBJECTIVES
The ultimate objectives of the Action Plan are to:
- reduce the burden of disease caused by environmental factors in the EU
- identify and prevent new health threats caused by environmental factors
- strengthen EU capacity for policy-making in this area Further information can be found at http://europe.eu.int/comm/environment/health/index_en.htm
Footnotes
1. Smith, K et al. "How much global ill health is attributable to environmental factors?", Epidemiology 1999, pp 573 - 584.
2. Burden of Disease and Injuries Attributable to Selected Environmental Factors among Europe's Children and Adolescents, Francesca Valent, D'Anna Little, Fabio Barbone, Giorgio Tamburlini; WHO, Geneva 2004 (in press).
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