6.2 Key new findings on health effects of air pollutants and impact of evidence for EU policies and WHO guidelines – the REVIHAAP and HRAPIE Projects

Abstract

The REVIHAAP project was co-funded by the EU DG ENVIRONMENT and WHO Regional Office for Europe, to answer a set of 26 specific questions about air pollution and health. The EU designated 2013 to be ‘Year of Air’ during which a comprehensive review of the air quality policies will be undertaken. Questions asked to WHO centered on the health effects of the pollutants covered under the EU Air Quality Directives, with a particular focus on Particulate Matter, Ozone and Nitrogen Dioxide. WHO last established Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) in 2005, and REVIHAAP considered whether these would need to be revised in the light of new research findings that became available since then. For Particulate Matter, it was concluded that the scientific basis of the AQGs was considerably stronger now, with some evidence emerging of serious mortality effects occurring at PM2.5 levels below the annul mean AQG of 10 microgram/m3. For ozone, evidence is emerging of effects of long-term exposure on respiratory mortality. This would strongly increase health impacts of ozone, which in the 2005 AQG documents were still thought to be restricted to short-term effects. For Nitrogen Dioxide, REVIHAAP focused on evidence of short-term and long-term effects of NO2 which were independent of effects of particulate matter . For short-term effects on mortality and hospital admissions, there is now considerable evidence of independent NO2 effects. For long-term effects, similar evidence is emerging, although it remains difficult to separate NO2 effects from those of other traffic-related components. At the moment of abstract submission, the new air quality policies are still under review, and the influence of the REVIHAAP findings on this cannot yet be gauged.