Concerned about the increasing effects of environmental pollution on people’s health, the Commission adopted a European strategy for Environment and Health in June 2003. One year on, it presented an Action Plan which focuses on the most vulnerable groups, particularly children. Environmental NGOs and the European green party heavily criticised it for being too weak on legislative proposals and focusing only on research.
Background
There appears to be an increasing incidence of illnesses related to the environment. Air pollution, noise, chemicals and electromagnetic fields have all been linked with health problems such as allergies, asthma, respiratory illnesses, development disorders and cancer. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the prevalence of asthma has increased by 200 per cent between the 1970s and the 1990s.
As one of the most vulnerable groups in society, children are increasingly exposed to the damaging effects of environmental activities. Chemicals that are harmless to adults may bring permanent damage to the developing bodies of children. But, despite the differences between adults and children, most environmental legislation is based on adult standards and norms. Furthermore, there is a considerable lack of data on the effects chemicals and other pollutant in the environment have on children.
Issues
The Strategy for Environment and Health was jointly designed by three Directorate-Generals of the Prodi Commission: Environment (Wallström) Research (Busquin) and Health (Byrne). The strategy (known as 'SCALE' for Science, Children, Awareness, Legislation and Evaluation) has five key features:
- it is based on science and look at the complex interactions between different pollutants and the body;
- it focuses on children: the Commission will launch pilot actions on pollutants with specific relevance to children, such as dioxins, heavy metals and endocrine disruptors;
- it aims to raise awareness from stakeholders and the general public;
- EU legislation will complement national laws and be reviewed to reflect children's special situation and needs;
- actions taken will undergo constant evaluation procedures.
The European Environment and Health Strategy will be implemented in cycles, initially focusing on four priority diseases:
- childhood respiratory diseases, asthma, allergies
- neuro-developmental disorders
- childhood cancer
- endocrine disrupting effects
These illnesses are linked to environmental factors such as indoor and outdoor air quality, dioxins, heavy metals, endocrine disrupters, electromagnetic fields and the urban environment.
As a follow-up to the strategy, the Commission presented a European Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010 (9 June 2004). The plan comprises 13 action points aimed at improving the co-ordination between the health, environment, and research sectors. The actions are divided into the three following areas:
- Monitoring: Developing indicators to measure the link between environment and health and understand the routes pollutants take from their source to the human body. This would for example include 'biomonitoring' (taking regular samples of blood, urine or hair) to measure human exposure to environmental pollutants.
- Research: Focusing research on four priority diseases (asthma/allergy, neuro developmental disorders, cancers and endocrine disrupting effects) to 'fill the knowledge gap'.
- Communication: Developing citizen's awareness to help them make informed health choices. Other actions include training to health professionals to make sure they are alert about environment and health interactions.
Positions
The European Public Health Alliance told EURACTIV that it welcomes the new strategy: "This is the first time that protection of health has been fully integrated in the other policy areas of environment and research. The Strategy will involve pilot monitoring activities to track pollutants from the environment into the food chain and human beings. Gaps in scientific knowledge will be identified and filled. Lack of evidence will no longer be an excuse for inaction on our environmental health".
The European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) supports the European Commission's objective of creating a pan-European health and environment monitoring programme that is scientifically validated and harmonised across member states. Madeleine Laffont from CEFIC said: "Provided this framework addresses the full range of environmental factors - including life-style, socio-economic, physical, biological and chemical factors - it should provide helpful information to focus limited resources on priority public health needs. However, we are concerned that the incredibly rapid work schedule imposed on stakeholders (a matter of months) means that the planning phase is not as scientifically rigorous as such a challenging project requires".
On the Action Plan, CEFIC's Caroline De Bie says the draft put forward by the Commission in the consultative process placed too much emphasis on the chemicals industry and too little attention to other factors influencing environmentally-triggered diseases. "We have witnessed a substantial improvement. The final plan is much more balanced than the first draft," De Bie said.
Environmental groups criticised the EU's "lack of leadership" at the WHO European Regional Conference in Budapest (June 2004). They regretted that the Commission's proposed Environment and Health Action Plan "does not foresee any legislative action and misses the opportunity to support the upcoming REACH Regulation on chemicals". "The European Environment and Health strategy [SCALE] could be an excellent place to set indicators and monitoring for priority chemicals to be controlled under REACH, the future EU chemicals regulation," said Stefan Scheuer from the European Environmental Bureau. "But, instead, the European Commission prefers to listen to self-interested stories from the chemicals industry rather than to propose action to protect children from chemical contamination," he said.
A Commission official close to the dossier said the stakeholder negotiations that led to the final version of the Action Plan had been "very difficult". "Industry has been lobbying a lot," he explained, the problem being to strike a balance between the request for swift legislative action from the environmental groups and industry pressures to delay further legal steps until more research is undertaken. Answering to industry critics, he admitted that while "there is still a lot that we don't know, there is still a lot that we can do".
Timeline
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February 2005: Parliament resolution on SCALE (EURACTIV, 25 Feb. 2005)
- 11 June 2007: mid-term review of the Action Plan
- 2009: WHO fifth ministerial conference on environment and health
Further Reading
International Organisations
- World Health Organisation:Principles for Evaluating Health Risks in Children Associated with Exposure to Chemicals(27 July 2007)
- World Health Organisation press release:New WHO report tackles children's environmental health(27 July 2007) [FR]
- WHO Regional Office for Europe - European Environment and Health Committee:Intergovernmental Midterm Review (IMR) - Children’s Health and the Environment in Europe: Baseline Assessment: Executive summary of the EHIS-based report(June 2007)
- WHO Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health:Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe(June 2004)
- World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe:Press release - One in three child deaths in Europe due to environment. New WHO study details devastating effects(18 June 2004)
- World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe:The effects of air pollution on children's health and development: a review of the evidence
- World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe:Study on environmental burden of disease in children: key findings(18 June 2004)
- World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe:WHO studies on the environmental burden of diseases in children
- WHO Regional Office for Europe / European Environment Agency:Children"s health and environment: A review of evidence(2002)
- WHO:An overview of the environment and health in Europe in the 1990s(March 1999)
Governments
- Agence Française de sécurité sanitaire environmentale (AFSSE):Raport - Impact sanitaire de la pollution athmosphérique urbaine(March 2004)
- US National Conference of State Legislatures:Children's Health and the Environment(May 2002)
- US Environment Protection Agency (EPA):America's Children and the Environment: A First View of Available Measures
Business & Industry
- Cefic press release:European chemical industry urges WHO to focus its efforts on priorities(13 June 2007)
- CONCAWE:Health
NGOs and Think-Tanks
- Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL):Workshop Report “Stopping children’s chemical contamination”(16 April 2007)
- European Environment Agency (EEA):News release - Better information needed to end "large-scale experiment with children's health," EEA chief says(press release, 24 June 2004)
Non-assigned links
- Commission: Communication"A European Environment and Health Strategy", COM (2003) 338 final [ FR FR DE
- Commission: Communication:The European Environment & Health Action Plan 2004-2010, COM(2004) 416 final | Technical annexes
- Commission Memo:Questions and answers on a European Health and Environment Action Plan 2004-2010(9 June 2004)
- Environment Council:Conclusions on a European environment and health strategy(27 Oct. 2003)
- Joint Research Centre:Physical & Chemical Exposure Unit
- DG Environment:Environment and Health
- DG SANCO:Programme of Community action in the field of public health (2003-2008)
- European project:European Human Biomonitoring Homepage
- DG Research:Environment and Health brochure
- DG Research:Endocrine disrupter research in Europe
- European Environment AgencyEEA Report: Environment and health(2005)
- Commission:Stakeholders Information and Consultation Meeting on the "European Environment & Health Strategy"(11 July 2003)
- Commission Press Release:Protecting our children's health by cutting back pollution[ FR FR DE
- International Association of Public Transport (UITP):Press release - Pollution and roads: major child killers - Public transport can help alleviate the problem, says UITP(24 June 2004)
- European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC):Press release: Chemical Industry vows involvement in Children"s Health Plan(9 June 2004)
- European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC):Cefic"s position on Children Health & Environment
- European Crop Protection Association (ECPA):Press release: ECPA joins in chemical industry's vow for involvement in Children's Health Plan(9 June 2004)
- European Public Health Alliance: Booklet "Tackling environmental threats. Children's health in Europe" (April 2003)
- EEA:Report - Europe's environment: the third assessment| Summary Summary FR Summary FR DE
- European Community of Consumer Cooperatives (EURO COOP):Comments to the European Commission Communications: "A European Environment and Health Strategy" and "The European & Health Action Plan 2004-2010(24 June 2004)
- Institute for Environment and Health (UK):Uncertainty factors: their use in human health risk assessment by UK government(2003)
- European Environment and Health Committee:website
- Children's Environmental Health Network:website
- World Resources Institute (WRI):Linking environment and health
- Health and Environment Alliance:A healthy and sustainable Europe(May 2000)
- International Society of Doctors for the Environment:Primer on International Environment and Health Politics(11 July 2002)
- Greenfacts.org:Dioxins(2004)
- Greenfacts.org:Respiratory Diseases in Children(2005)
- Greenfacts.org:Power Lines, Wiring & Appliances(2004)
- Greenfacts.org:Endocrine Disruptors(2004)
- Greenfacts.org:Ecosystem Change(2005)