IJERPH, Vol. 17, Pages 2174: Air Pollution and Health: The Need for a Medical Reading of Environmental Monitoring Data

IJERPH, Vol. 17, Pages 2174: Air Pollution and Health: The Need for a Medical Reading of Environmental Monitoring Data International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph17072174 Authors: Marcello Iriti Prisco Piscitelli Eduardo Missoni Alessandro Miani Air pollution is a recent public health issue. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) published updated air quality guidelines for a number of air pollutants (including PM10 and PM2.5), which recommended for particulate matter annual average concentration levels at half or less the limit values set by European legislation. In the European Union, around 80% of the European urban population is exposed to air pollution above the levels recommended by the WHO guidelines. Only in 2015 the WHO addressed for the first time the topic of the health impacts of air pollution in its general assembly, which adopted a resolution clearly defining air pollution as the world’s largest single environmental health risk factor. Nowadays, the WHO considers air pollution as a major public health threat, causing a 7% increase in overall mortality for each increase of 10 μg/m3 in annual average of PM2.5. This result has been achieved thanks to the outstanding efforts of the director of the WHO’s Environment and Public Health Department, Dr. Maria Neira, who has devoted her full commitment to highlighting the consequences that air pollution has on people&a...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research