BRUSSELS - Exposure to air pollution, radioactive radon, ultraviolet radiation, asbestos, some chemicals and other pollutants causes over 10 percent of all cancer cases in Europe, a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) revealed on Tuesday.

 

With more than three million new patients and 1.3 million deaths each year, cancer has become one of the main priorities of the European Commission in the health domain — prompting legislative proposals to reduce air and water pollution, in a bid to reduce human exposure to environmental cancer risks. 

 

While the EU set legally-binding air quality standards to tackle air pollution in 2015, the vast majority of the population in Europe is still exposed to air pollutant concentrations above the international air quality guidelines.

 

The EU environment agency is working with "extremely limited resources" for its responsibilities under the Green Deal, the agency's chief Hans Bruyninckx said. "There are resources flowing to agencies, but not to all of them… and this is a political choice," he warned, arguing that the Green Deal has not been adequately translated into "appropriate resources" for those who monitor the follow-up of law-making.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/29 June 2022 — - -