Europeans seemingly healthier than ever -- with some caveats
The good news from a report just released by the European Environment Agency and the Joint Research Centre at the European Commission is that Europeans are living longer and healthier lives than ever. For that they can thank rigorous government policies that protect air, water and food from harmful contaminants.
The chilling news is the report finds that those contaminants remain a serious risk in many countries and it warns of the emergence of new public health threats, especially from human exposure to more and more harmful chemicals. Sales of chemical products doubled worldwide from 2000 to 2009, the report found, and chemicals that disrupt the human endocrine system are increasingly found in a wide array of products.
The report finds evidence that air pollution contributes to cancer, heart disease, bronchitis and asthma and estimates that air pollution reduces each EU citizen’s life expectancy by an average of 8.5 months. While there are more regulations to diminish harmful air releases, as much as 95% of people who live in European cities are still exposed to levels of fine particulate matter greater than World Health Organization guidelines, according to the report.
Not surprisingly, researchers found that general health was better in countries with cleaner environments, citing benefits to both mental and physical health. Residents of countries such as Sweden and Finland, which give over more than 40% of their land to green space, have better general health than those living in Hungary and Greece, which have less than 30% green space within their borders.
