EU "must redouble environment and health efforts"
Europe must work hard to meet objectives set for 2010 on reducing the health impacts of environmental pollution, according a draft resolution.
19.11.2007 |Chantal van den Bossche
Europe must work hard to meet objectives set for 2010 on reducing the health impacts of environmental pollution, according a draft resolution expected to be adopted by environment ministers in December.
The resolution will detail EU governments' position on the implementation of an action plan unveiled by the European commission in 2004. The text has been proposed by the Portuguese EU presidency and will be refined by junior diplomats over the coming weeks.
The resolution responds to a mid-term review of the plan published by the commission in June. Good progress has been made in implementing the plan's 13 tasks but completing the work by 2010 will be challenging (EED 13/06/07), the review said.
The draft ministerial resolution urges the commission to further integrate environment-related health issues into all aspects of its work, to continue supporting research and to gather information to advise policy makers. The commission should pay particular attention to indoor environments, concentrate more on prevention of health risks and launch a human biomonitoring pilot project as soon as
possible.
Several governments are known to have been angered by the commission's handling of the environment and health strategy after the EU executive tacitly admitted last year that environmental impacts on human health had been exaggerated (EED 22/11/06).
In a related development, a group of MEPs have launched a petition for the commission to produce a green paper on indoor air pollution, in a "written declaration" on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease issued on Wednesday.
