City Council, Wake Up! Air Pollution Claims Twice As Many Lives As Previously Thought: Research Claims.

12 March 2019. The number of early deaths caused by air pollution turns out to be twice as high as has been assumed. New data indicate that dirty air is actually more dangerous than smoking.

Scientists conclude that in Europe an estimated 800.000 people die prematurely because of air pollution: twice the number than was previously calculated. It also shortens people’s lives by two years on average. High population density and pollution levels amount to an exposure which is among the highest in the world.

Prof. Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute: “Because most pollutants come from the burning of fossil fuels, we urgently need to switch to alternative fuels. (…) We could reduce the number of pollution related deaths possibly by 55%.”

Until recently, studies focused mainly on passive smoking, so few data were available on the consequences of dirty air. This resulted in an under-estimation of the number of deaths. In the mean time, more than 40 large-scale studies have become available, including significant data from China. Also, a greater range of conditions is being studied, among which diabetes and high blood pressure, also increasing the estimated mortality.

It is not too late. The Amsterdam City Council can and must give up its dangerous plans to build more densely in the city perimeter, squeezing more and more people together at the cost of green spaces. A good start would be to cancel the development of the Havenstraat area and the moving of the enormous, exclusive BSA mega-expatschool to the Havenstraat. It is time to stop playing games with people’s health!

Link to The Guardian of 12 March:
www.theguardian.com/environment

Link to the resarch, published by the European Heart Journal:
academic.oup.com/eurheartj