Air pollution exposure kills more than 350,000 people in Europe every year despite attributable deaths from toxic particles falling by nearly half since 2005, the European Environment Agency warned in a briefing published Tuesday.
In a second briefing, the agency reported that the majority of European agricultural land has pollution levels above the legal limit set by EU law.
The publications — which come on the day the revised Ambient Air Quality Directive to align European Union standards more closely with stricter World Health Organization (WHO) levels comes into force — shows that pollution levels are still detrimental to human and animal health and put the continent’s food system at risk, but that strict air quality laws can help.
“It is good news for all citizens that we have stricter EU air quality rules in place as of today, but still too many people across Europe, especially those in cities are negatively affected by poor air quality,” said EEA chief Leena Ylä-Mononen in a statement.
